


Worth A Shot

by LocalTrashBin



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alfred is a good brother, Bad Flirting, Canon Universe, Completed, Gilbert's kind of an asshole sometimes, Human Names, Implied Sexual Content, It's mostly just fluff, M/M, Mattie is angsty, Mentioned FrUK - Freeform, Nothing explicit, SO MUCH FLUFF, Slight face family, They're both just dorks, francis is the matchmaker, terrible attempts at writing flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2018-12-21 01:43:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 47,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11933706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LocalTrashBin/pseuds/LocalTrashBin
Summary: Francis Bonnefoy always considered himself to be a love genius, even if others disagreed. So it was only natural that when an opportunity arose, he took it. Gilbert Beilschmidt and Matthew Williams were two of the most lonely souls he'd ever met. Scary thing was, one of them didn't even know it. So Francis concocted a plan, which he knew many would disapprove of, but to him it was fool proof.A set up"You have one month to make him fall for you." Francis pitched.A wide grin spread across Gilbert's face, he leaned over the table. "I only need a week."





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi so I wrote this like a billion years ago but I wanted to post it because it was a blast to write. So I apologize in advance if you happen to run into any horrific spelling or grammatical errors. Feel free to sue me. 
> 
> That aside, Enjoy!

The room was filled with roaring laughter and cheers. Nation's parties were notorious for getting out of hand.   
Gilbert roared with laughter at Antonio's joke. Not that it was particularly funny, probably just from the influence of alcohol. Antonio chuckled at his own particularly unfunny joke. 

Francis tapped his fingers against the wooden table, his head resting in his hand, an amused smile on his face as he watched his friends. His eyes wandered over to his old colony again. Canada had been sitting alone, looking bored and a little bit upset. He frowned, wishing there was some way he could cheer up his little snowflake. He hadn't seen anyone that lonely in a while, no one except Gilbert.

An idea formed into his slightly intoxicated head, one that reformed the grin on his face. Yes, perhaps it might work. If Gilbert would just talk to the boy, maybe things would work themselves out. If he got them together, he wouldn't have to see either of them lonely again, and that would be a sight he'd love to see. He glanced over at Gilbert, who was laughing, leaning an elbow on Antonio.

"Yeah, Romano may have turned me down again but, I still have less rejections than Gilbert." Antonio joked, taking a drink. Gilbert frowned.

"Excuse you? No one has ever rejected me! I'm amazing, I could get anyone I wanted." he boasted, Francis raised an eyebrow.

"Then how come you're still single?" He said with an apologetic smile.

"Cause I don't want anybody, I'm too awesome for everyone."

"But you're saying that if you did want someone, you could get them?" Francis asked for clarification.

"Of course I could!" Gilbert retorted. Francis grinned, this was almost too easy, Gilbert basically backed himself into this.

"So, if I gave you one month to get someone to fall in love with you, you could do it?" He bargained. Gilbert smirked.

"I could do it in less than that, I have my charm." he pushed back his hair and flashed him a grin. 

"What charm?" Antonio muttered, Gilbert elbowed him in the side.

"Well then, I have a challenge for you, if you're up for it that is?" Francis sipped his wine. He was a genius, an absolute genius.

"Yeah? Try me old man." 

"Hmm" his eyes scanned the room, though he already knew who he was going to pick. "Matthew Williams." 

"Canada?" Gilbert questioned. Antonio's eyes darted around the room, trying to figure out who exactly that person was.

"Yes. Unless that's too hard for you." 

"Hell no! That's too easy! I mean come on, look at him. He's practically just asking me to come over there." He said, glancing over at the blonde who was now sitting on the couch with the cat. Still alone.

"Right then, you have one month." Francis held out his hand, Gilbert shook it.

"I only need a week." he grinned, raising his brows. Antonio laughed and went along with it, pretending to know who Matthew was.

Now, Gilbert wasn't particularly known for thinking ahead, however, had he been sober, maybe he would've caught on to Francis' plans, or at least question why Francis would jeopardize the feelings of his beloved Canadian. But Gilbert wasn't sober, and he certainly didn't think ahead. He grinned at his friends. "Just watch me, I'll start right now, he won't be able to resist me." He muttered in a low voice. Antonio blew a whistle and Francis gave a proud smile. 

Gilbert sauntered his was over to the blonde, who was still playing with the cat, finding it exponentially more interesting than anything else happening at the party. He saw Gilbert walking in his direction, but he didn't think much of it. He didn't expect him to be walking over to him.

Gilbert plunked down on the couch next to Matthew, he startled the cat and it hissed and jumped down. Matthew jumped as well, wondering if he hadn't seen him and almost sat on him, however that was not the case.

"Hey." he grinned, flashing his teeth. Matthew looked around, wondering if he was talking to someone else, but his eyes were locked on Matthew.

"Hey?" He replied, still questioning who he was greeting. 

"Why are you all the way back here by yourself?" He asked, rotating his body to face Matthew. A blush formed on Matthew's face. Not because Gilbert was flirting, or at least not that he knew, but because he wasn't prepared for social interaction, and didn't know what he was doing. 

"Eh, I dunno I just sort of um...there was a cat." he muttered, his face slightly pink. Gilbert filled with pride, he didn't even have to try, the kid was already flustered and he hadn't even said more than a sentence.

"You're Matthew, right?" He asked, even though he knew who he was. Francis never shut up about him. He made sure to call him by his real name, not by his country name, he figured it sounded hotter. 

"Yeah." he replied quickly, Gilbert held out his hand.

"Name's Gilbert." He took Matthew's hand, shaking it. Matthew stared down at their hands.

"I know who you are." He muttered, only to instantly regret it and flush red when Gilbert shot him a questioning look. "Um! Not like I stalk you or anything just eh, you're friends with France and I know France and I've just seen you around is all." He muttered, embarrassed.

"No sweat, I wouldn't be surprised if you wanted to stalk me. I mean, who can resist this?" he grinned and nodded to himself. Matthew stared back at him blankly, too confused to reply.

"That was a joke." Gilbert stated, Matthew smiled and nodded, noticing he was still shaking Gilbert's hand, he quickly pulled it away. "You don't talk much, do you?" 

"Eh, I talk, I just am kind of bad at it." he muttered with a nervous smile. The only way he knew how to talk to people was to crack jokes on how he sucked at being a person. Gilbert grinned back, having the upper hand as he was much more relaxed.

"That's alright, it's cute. Besides it gives me more time to talk about myself, and who doesn't want to hear about that?" he sort of half joked, but honestly, Matthew couldn't even tell. One thing he could tell though was that Gilbert was definitely flirting with him. A pit grew in his stomach, he couldn't tell if it was anxiety or embarrassment but he definitely wasn't enjoying it. He sorta just awkwardly laughed, hoping Gilbert would get bored and leave. He glanced over at America, giving him a pleading look to come rescue him, but America was too busy being an idiot and jumping on the table to notice his brother's distress, not like he'd help anyway, he'd find his embarrassment too funny to end it. 

"Though I am curious about you, how old are you?" He asked. Matthew turned his head back to Gilbert, giving up on being rescued.

"150" he replied, Gilbert gave him another look.

"Like, in human years?" 

"Oh! I'm uh, I'm 19." he replied, forgetting his own age for a moment. Gilbert was shocked, he was pretty young, almost made him feel bad. Almost.

"Well, looks like I'm your wise elder then, I'm 23." he stated, Matthew nodded in acknowledgment, then proceeded to go through a list of excuses in his head, just anything to get him away from this strange man. He wanted people to notice him, just not like this, and maybe when he's had some metal preparation before hand.

Gilbert shifted closer to him, Matthew felt the heat rising to his face. He knew his blushing was just leading him on, but he couldn't help it. Gilbert smirked at his discomfort, finding this far much more fun than he should.

"You look like you could use a drink." he suggested. Matthew smiled and shook his head politely. 

"I'll pass thanks." he replied quickly, scooting away from the advancing Prussian. Gilbert grabbed his own beer bottle off the wooden table in front of them. Matthew's eyes focused on the glass. The heat from Gilbert's hand on the cold, glass bottle created condensation.

"Why don't we share?" He asked, holding the bottle in front of him, coaxing. 

"No thanks" he replied again, Gilbert shrugged and chugged the rest of his bottle. Matthew sat awkwardly, running through his head like a database of things he'd rather be doing than sitting here talking to Gilbert. 

"So, someone as pretty as you must be dating someone. Who is it?" He asked, even though he knew very well that the Canadian was in fact single. He laughed awkwardly. Matthew knew it was coming.

"Oh, I don't um, I'm single." He muttered quietly. In his head however he thought of many different ways to tell the man off. Each he was too shy to actually say out loud. 

"Well, lucky for me then." he grinned, his eyes following down to Matthew's lips. Matthew awkwardly diverted his face away. 

Luckily for him, America gave him the perfect escape when he fell off the table. There was a loud crash and both heads turned to the laughing American. Matthew stood up quickly.

"Where you going?" Gilbert asked. Matthew smiled apologetically at him.

"That idiot who just fell off the table is my brother, I gotta make sure he's not dead." 

"He seems fine to me." Gilbert made a last attempt, Matthew shrugged again. He moved to leave but Gilbert grabbed his wrist before he left, making Matthew jolt around. "Wait, at least give me your number." he demanded. Matthew raised and eyebrow.

"We talked for five minutes." 

"Best five minutes of my life" he said with a smooth smile. Matthew blushed slightly and rolled his eyes, before holding out his hand for Gilbert's phone, feeling too bad to reject him. He typed it in quickly before rushing off. Gilbert nodded over to his table of friends, pointing at his phone, mouthing something about how great he was. Francis gave him a thumbs up. So far, so good.

**

Alfred swung and arm around his brother's shoulder as the two walked home, living relatively close, as they were neighbours. 

"So, I see Gaybert was chatting you up." he said in a teasing tone.

"Oh really? Did you also see my desperate calls for help? You're a lousy older brother. You know that?" he muttered, Alfred laughed.

"Oh come on! And ruin that? No way! Besides, admit it, you were blushing." he teased, Matthew shoved his brother's arm off.

"That's because I don't know how to talk to people" he muttered back. Alfred clapped his back.

"Well, then I guess that was practice" 

"Ugh, but now he has my number, and he's gonna call me and then I'm gonna have to answer and talk to him." He sulked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Just block him then." 

"No! Then he'll know I'm purposely not answering and he'll think I'm rejecting him and be upset!" He shouted, acting as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. Alfred shot him a questioning look. 

"But, you are rejecting him. Right?" He asked.

"Well, I don't know, I don't really know what I'm doing. It's just a joke though, or a dare or something, why else would he have talked to me?" He said.

"Maybe he just likes you." Alfred suggests, Matthew shook his head.

"No one likes me." He muttered. Alfred frowned and smacked his brother in the back of the head. "Ow! What was that for?!" 

"Dude, how come every time someone talks to you, you assume it's just a prank? Has it ever occurred to you that maybe people actually just want to get to know you? Bro, how low is your self esteem?" He lectured.

Matthew didn't respond, he just crossed his arms and huffed. Alfred groaned and rolled his eyes. "Stop being angsty, or I'll hit you again." he threatened. Matthew still didn't reply, so he raised his hand and smacked him in the head again.

"Why do you keep doing that?!" Matthew whipped around and smacked his hand away. Alfred snickered.

"Cause it's fun" He elbowed his brother playfully, who in return elbowed him back. Alfred chased after him as Matthew ran away down the street, laughing. 

Maybe he wasn't completely alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Matthew rubbed his eyes as his alarm blared beside him, he groaned and slammed his hand down on the snooze button. He sat up reluctantly, feeling around on his table for his glasses. Once he retrieved them, he placed them on his face.

His phone buzzed on his table. He lifted it up and glanced at the notification on his screen from an unknown number.

'Hey baby, what're you wearing?'

Matthew clicked his phone off and placed it back down, not needing to think about who it was that sent that message. He rubbed at his eyes again, before a soft head of white popped out from the covers, Matthew shrieked slightly, for a moment, mistaking if for someone else's head.

"Who?" His polar bear spoke softly, Matthew sighed in relief. He pat the bear's head. The bear pawed at his hand. "Hungry?" 

Matthew chuckled, he kissed his head gently. "Alright, alright. I'll make breakfast." He slid out of bed, grabbing his phone off the table with him. 

He walked down the cold wooden stair case to the kitchen, where he pulled out the flour and other ingredients to prepare his preferred choice of breakfast. Pancakes. The superior breakfast. He whipped them up quickly, humming as he cooked. His brother would probably tease him for acting like a Disney princess, but Matthew knew about his fantasies of Captain America so he'd use that in his defence.

His phone buzzed again on the counter, this time it was a caller. He picked it up and held it to his ear.

"Hello?" He answered in an exaggerated friendly voice. 

"Hey, it's Gil, did you get my text?" A somewhat raspy voice replies from the other end, Matthew felt that pit in his stomach return.

"Yes Gilbert, I got your text." he replied simply, resuming the pancakes.

"But you didn't reply?" He asked, trying to sound cool. Matthew sighed.

"No, sorry, I just um, I got busy." he said, whipping the batter together.

"No worries. Anyway, my awesomeness wants to see you again, let's met up today." he recommended. Matthew bit his lip. 

"I have...plans" he replied, thinking of some excuse. It's not that he didn't want to see Gilbert, well, actually it was because he didn't want to see him. Only because he knew what Gilbert was trying to do and didn't want to be the butt of his joke. 

"Plans with who?" 

"My brother." Matthew lied. He hadn't accounted on the two being friends, but unfortunately, they were.

"Oh, okay then, I guess you'll have to wait to be graced with my presence, how about tomorrow?" He asked, not giving up that easily. If Matthew was gonna play hard to get, Gilbert would just have to be a little more patient.

"I'll have to see, but as far as I know...I'm free." He muttered, regretting those words. He didn't want Gilbert to know he was avoiding him, because that would be rude. So he figured Gilbert would just forget by the time the next day came and he wouldn't have to worry about it. Boy was he wrong.

"Cool, my awesomeness will call you then. Later babe." he replied quickly before hanging up the phone. Matthew stood in his kitchen, stunned.

"Did he just call me babe?" 

**

Gilbert sat on his couch, he lowered his phone from his ear and scrolled down through his contacts, picking out Alfred's.

'Hey fuck face, are you hanging out with your brother today?'

Gilbert sent the text quickly. He knew something was up, no one turned him down, it just didn't happen, he was too amazing to miss the chance to see. Gilbert got a reply almost instantly from the American.

'Nope'

His reply was short and simple, Gilbert clenched his fists and groaned.

"I knew it!" He spurted out loud. Part of him wanted to call Matthew back and call him out for lying to him, but that would almost definitely scare him off. Gilbert took a deep breath. 

"I can't believe him, why would he turn me down? I'm great! I'm the best he could ever hope to get!" He paced back and forth, looking at himself in the mirror. "I mean look at me, I'm gorgeous! Not only am I ridiculously attractive but I'm also a great fighter! Who wouldn't want this?" 

But maybe Matthew did want him? Yes. Gilbert knew it. He was just putting up walls, trying to test him. But Gilbert was more resilient than that, he wouldn't lose this challenge. He wouldn't grant Francis the satisfaction of beating him. Matthew was his challenge, he wouldn't lose.

But that was his problem. He only saw Matthew as a bet. 

**

The next day, Matthew woke up to his phone ringing beside him. He grabbed the phone, squinting to see the answer button, as he didn't have his glasses on, before he answered it.

"Hello?" 

"Hey! Morning hottie. You free? Let's meet up. Bring a friend, whatever. Oh, but just so you know, I charge extra for crowds." he joked over the line, Matthew could practically feel his grin. He laughed nervously. 

Was he serious? 

"Oh eh, about that. I have to take...kuma...uhhhhh...kumajimmy, my polar bear to the vet today. It's a big thing so I'll be busy all day." He said, and also blatantly lied.

"Oh, cool, I didn't know you had a polar bear, you get more interesting every time we talk, how about tomorrow?"

And the cycle repeats.

**

Gilbert slammed his head down on the bar counter, groaning.

"Twice. That's twice he blew me off. I just don't get it? What am I doing wrong?" He whined. Francis raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm? Giving up already? I thought this challenge would be easy for the great Gilbert, guess I was wrong." he said with a shrug, Gilbert's head shot back up.

"Whoa whoa whoa, who said anything about giving up? I know he likes me, everyone does." he said, frowning. "He just needs a little push, then he'll be wrapped around my finger." he grinned and clenched his fist. 

"And what is said push?" Francis asked.

"I'll give him an offer he can't resist." 

**

Matthew's phone rang again, he dropped the remote and glanced at the caller ID, before sighing and picking up the phone.

"Hello Gilbert." he replied in a dry tone.

"Sweet cheeks, get this, I'm sitting here, all alone with two tickets to the petting zoo, and no one to go with. My life is really hard you see but then I remembered, you said you had a polar bear. You must like animals right? Come on, don't make me waste a ticket. Come?" 

God dammit this guy was persistent. Matthew sighed, he couldn't keep turning him down. He decided to give in, just to get him off his back so he would finally leave him alone.

"Alright, I'll come." 

Gilbert had to hide his squeal of glee, as he was still on the phone with Matthew. He grinned.

"Great, you won't be disappointed. I'll pick you up in an hour." And with that he hung up. 

"Jackpot!" He celebrated to himself. Then realized.

"Shit, I don't know where this guy lives." 

**

Gilbert's car pulled up in front of Matthew's house. He'd had to call again to get his address. Matthew stepped outside, mentally preparing himself for hours alone, with Gilbert.

He pulled open the passengers door and slid inside. He had to admit, petting zoo did sound appealing, with or without Gilbert. 

Gilbert eyed the blonde, noticing he was dressed casually, he washed, and he smelt pretty nice. His hair was combed neatly and looked a little bit curled. That means he'd dressed himself nicely for this. Maybe he dressed up for Gilbert. Which would've be a good sign. 

He pulled out, driving along the road, shooting side glances at Matthew throughout the pretty much silent car ride. 

"So, how's your polar bear?" He asked.

"What?" Matthew replied, seeming like he was snapped out of his thoughts.

"You know, the one you had to take to the vet and was there all day for?" He answered, grinning slightly at being able to call Matthew out on his lies. Matthew blushed and looked around.

"Oh um, he's better, he just um, got a...got a cold." He said, coughing awkwardly after. 

"Right." Gilbert replied.

** 

Things smoothed out once they arrived at the petting zoo, as small cute animals were a weakness to both boys. Gilbert watched as Matthew knelt in front of the panda, feeding it from his soft hand. 

Matthew had a calming presence. Animals trusted him. 

"Here, let me try." Gilbert said as he grabbed a stick of bamboo and stood in front of the panda.

"Here animal, eat this bamboo from my awesome hand." he held it out, the panda quivered in fear and hid behind Matthew's legs, Matthew chuckled.

Gilbert looked perplexed. Whatever, birds were better than bears anyway. They made their way to the birds section, where a sparrow landed on Gilbert's shoulder, he froze.

"Matthew! Mattie look!" He whispered excitedly. Matthew turned around and smiled as Gilbert grew a huge grin on his face as the bird kissed his cheek.

"Wow, you must be the bird whisperer." he stated. He smiled and kissed the bird back, Matthew chuckled. Okay, that was kind of adorable. 

It was great, until the bird proceeded to shit on Gilbert's favourite shirt. 

Whatever, Gilbird was better than other birds anyway. 

**

They walked around the zoo, side by side, their hands occasionally brushing up against each other. 

"Oh! I loved the moose! He was the best part! But that sparrow that crapped on you was cute too, it was really funny. I also can't believe they got a lion in the petting zoo, isn't it crazy? Then again, I have a polar bear for a pet so I guess I'm not one to talk." Matthew blabbed on about the petting zoo, getting amused by everything they walked by and telling Gilbert about how great it was. The whole time however, Gilbert was only half listening, the other half of his attention went to staring at Matthew's lips, wondering if he should go for it.

"Gilbert look!" Matthew gripped onto his arm, pointing over at one of the exhibits. "They have Alpacas." Matthew sounded so happy he was going to cry. 

"Go pet one, I'll take your picture." he said, pushing Matthew towards the animals. Matthew knelt down next to one, wrapping his arms around it and flashing a huge smile when Gilbert took the picture. 

Gilbert froze as he looked at it.

Gilbert wasn't heartless, he felt things. And he had a soft spot for cute things, he always had, and if that wasn't the cutest damn thing he'd ever seen in his life, then he didn't know what was. 

Matthew ran back to him smiling. 

"It was really soft" he stated, looking like it was hard for him to not squeal in delight. 

As for Gilbert, he just kept staring at the picture, internally screaming. 

** 

They stayed longer than they planned, which was good because it meant Matthew had no intention of leaving. Gilbert had bought them ice cream and the two were walking around the zoo in the dark, watching the animals sleep. 

Matthew was blabbing on about how he wanted a pet alpaca, but Gilbert wasn't listening, he was thinking of his next move, he snaked his arm around Matthew's waist subtly, before snugging him in closer. 

He'd been nice and patient with him all day, so it wouldn't be fair for Matthew to reject him now, right?

Matthew tensed as he felt his arm around his lower waist, but he didn't push him away, he just went quiet and continued walking. 

Gilbert wrapped his finger around one of the belt loops in his jeans, playing with it between his fingers. Matthew's heart was going about four thousand times faster than the safe amount. Gilbert glanced up at his face, once again looking at his lips. Matthew looked back at him, right into Gilbert's eyes. He wasn't diverting them away this time, he wasn't scared. He was standing his ground. The two had a competition with their eyes, Gilbert looking at him as if he were prey, but Matthew didn't flinch. 

Gilbert leaned in a little closer, about to make a move for it, especially when Matthew didn't back away. It was about to happen, before-

"Hello gentlemen! Can I offer you in a picture today so you remember your great time here today! It only cost five dollars!" The photo man jumped in front of them, Matthew pushed away quickly and blushed.

"Ummm, no thanks!" He said with a nervous laugh and smile, his face almost too red to be human. 

Gilbert glared at the guy. Of course, of fucking course he had to ask right then! Right when he was about to win his bet! 

He turned back to Matthew, who started walking ahead of him, Gilbert followed, grumbling to himself.

It didn't matter, he'd get his chance again. No one could resist Gilbert for long, not even him.


	3. Chapter 3

"That close, I was that fucking close!" Gilbert ranted at the bar, Antonio and Francis looked upon him with amused expressions. 

"Looks like you really are gonna need that month then." Francis said with a shrug, Gilbert flipped him off.

"Fuck off, it's not my fault that old pair of eyebrows raised his colonies to be so closed off." He crossed his arms and leaned back. "But, now I know how to get him, he's into all that slow, cutesy shit. I'll get him." 

Antonio looked up at him. "Gil, maybe I shouldn't say but, doesn't this seem a little wrong to you? I mean, playing with this kid's feelings like this."

Francis frowned at him. He wasn't just playing with his feelings! Gilbert was gonna fall in love with him! That was the plan. 

"Why should I care? He'll get over it." Gilbert replied, taking a drink. Francis snapped his eyes over to Gilbert, something about that statement bothered him. Gilbert was going to like him back, right? 

"Who knows, maybe you'll end up liking him back?" Francis suggested. Gilbert spat out his drink.

"What? Me? Never. Why would someone like me like someone like him?" He said in a confident tone, Francis frowned.

"Careful what you say, he's still my little boy." he warned, Gilbert rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, then why did you bet him off?" Gilbert muttered, Francis looked down.

He'd thank him, one day, they'd both thank him. 

** 

"You did what?!?" The brunette yelled at the blonde French-Man, seething over him. "You realize that if I don't kill you, Arthur sure as hell will."

"Relax Mon Cher, Gilbert will fall for him soon enough, after all, Matthieu is part French, which makes his irresistible." He explained. Hungary looked as though she was ready to hurl Francis off a three-hundred story building.

"Why? Why would you do that? Canada trusts you, you're just going to bet him off?" She questioned, trying to knock some sense into him.

"I'm not betting him off, I'm setting them up. The only way I could get Gilbert to even talk to him was to play off his ego. I did what I had to." he defended himself. 

"Yeah, and if Gilbert doesn't like him back, then what? He learns it was all a joke set up by the person he trusts the most, and his heart is broken forever?" She yelled, her hand itched for her frying pan. She didn't know Matthew all that well, but she knew Francis and Gilbert, and knew they were both absolute morons.

"That won't happen, I know Gilbert, he may try to pretend he doesn't have feelings but he does. He's afraid. He's afraid of rejection so the only way he'll let himself get close to someone is if you make it a game. He hasn't stopped talking about Matthieu since this whole thing started. He's not going to admit it, but he needs this." Francis defended his actions again, Elizabeta, the nation of Hungary, sighed.

"Why are you telling me this anyway?" She asked in defeat.

"Gilbert loved you for along time, that's no secret, so you know how his heart works. I want you to keep an eye on him for me, for any signs, any at all, that he may love Matthieu."

"I don't want to be a part of this Francis."

"Please, if not for me, for him." He pleaded, giving him a begging look.

Elizabeta groaned and shook the French-Man's hand.

"If this goes wrong, I will murder you."

**

Gilbert roared with laughter as he sprawled out on Matthew's couch, laughing at the tv. Matthew gritted his teeth in irritation.

"Gilbert, I know you're my guest but could you please keep it down, I really need to finish these reports." Matthew asked from the chair beside him.

"Well I wouldn't have to entertain myself with tv if you'd just pay attention to me." he pouted.

Gilbert had just sort of showed up at his house, uninvited. He'd been doing that a lot recently.

"I need to focus." Matthew stated sternly. Gilbert mimicked him and continued watching the tv, before laughing again. Matthew groaned and rested his head in his hands. "Gilbert please, I'm begging you."

"You don't have to be here, you know."

"It's my house!" He defended.

"Yeah, and you could be upstairs, in your room, with me, on the bed having the best-"

"Gilbert, I'm just going to stop you right there. No." He replied sternly, his head not leaving his hands. Gilbert pouted.

"You're no fun." He whined, before reverting his attention back to the tv, laughing as hard and loud as he could.

Matthew groaned loudly and a grin spread across Gilbert's face. He was pleased with himself.

Matthew was starting to figure it out.

Gilbert was a prick. 

**

"Mattie, open the door."

"Gilbert, for the last time, you are not showering with me." Matthew said behind the white wooden door, Gilbert sighed.

"My toothbrush is in there!" Gilbert whined.

"Why is it in my bathroom and not, oh I don't know, your own house?" He asked sharply.

"Cause you have a nice bathroom. Now open the door. I don't care if you're naked. In fact, if it makes you feel better, I'll get naked too." 

"Go away!" 

**

The front door to Matthew's house flew open once more, Matthew sighed. He was pretty sure he locked it, but he was also pretty sure Gilbert had stolen a key from him. 

"Matthew Williams! Come greet your awesome guest! I have a surprise for you!" He called throughout the house. As Matthew suspected, it was Gilbert. He rolled out of bed, placing the book he was reading back down, and trudged down the stairs.

"Gilbert please I-" Matthew froze as he stepped into the foyer. Gilbert stood in the doorway with a huge grin, and a bouquet of purple flowers.

"I bought you flowers. It's a thank you gift. You know, thank you for putting up with me." he held them out. Matthew looked stunned for a moment, before smiling softly.

"You didn't need to do that. I'm happy to have you around." he said warmly, taking the flowers. 

"Really? I was getting the feeling that I was being irritating." Gilbert replied, Matthew shook his head.

"No. Well, I mean, that's part of your charm." Matthew stated with a smile, Gilbert smirked.

"Oh, well, good to hear! So, does that mean you'll shower with me now?" 

Matthew soft smile faded for a moment, before a tired, sloppy smile grew in its face. He laughed.

"I'll consider it." he teased, Gilbert perked up.

"Really?"

"No." He shot him down, Gilbert frowned. Matthew elbowed him playfully.

"Thanks for the flowers Gil, they're really nice." he took the bouquet and walked off the the kitchen to find a nice vase. 

**

The front door slammed open again, Matthew, who had been laying in bed, jolted up, startled by the noise. 

He grabbed his hockey stick for self defence and creeped out of his room, preparing to face a home intruder. He shook slightly as he peered around the corner.

"H-hello?" He called out, there was no answer. He walked over to the porch, the door was still open, Matthew's heart sank. He closed it quickly and turned around. The living room was empty. 

He stepped around carefully. "I know you're there, show yourself!" He demanded, holding his hockey stick out like a sword, trying not to sound shaky.

Matthew screamed as someone swung their arm around his shoulder. He pushed them off and shoved them to the wall, when he heard laughing.

"Maaatttiiieeee!" The Prussian called out in a sing songy voice. Matthew sighed and dropped his stick.

"Gilbert! Don't do that! You scared the crap out of me!" He yelled, Gilbert laughed.

"D-don't worry babe." he hiccuped. "I'm just a pizza delivery boy! I heard you ordered extra sausage!" He hollered with laughter, Matthew frowned, still having about fifty heart attacks.

"Ha. You're hilarious. There really is no end to your wit." Matthew said with a straight, and tired face. "Gilbert, mind telling me why you're here at four in the morning? And hopelessly drunk?" Matthew questioned, rubbing his tired eyes.

Gilbert's hands snaked around Matthew's waist as he reached a hand behind him and groped his butt cheek, Matthew squealed and pushed him off.

"Gilbert!? What the hell?!" He yelled, flushing red. Gilbert frowned.

"Come on. Stop rejecting me." he moved forward again, Matthew held out one hand to Gilbert's chest and pushed him away.

"Gilbert no, you're drunk." 

"And you're sexy!" 

"Gilbert, if you're going to shown up at my house drunk all the time, please at least to me the favour of not grabbing my-" Matthew was cut off as Gilbert collapsed. He caught him quickly before he hit the ground, growing with concern. "Gil?! Are you alright?!" 

Gilbert snored in response, Matthew frowned. Of course. 

He swung his arm around his shoulder and dragged him over to the couch, propping his head up on a pillow. He grabbed a blanket folded up in the cupboard and laid it across him. Gilbert snored loudly, Matthew let out an amused chuckle.

He will say, he much preferred Gilbert to pass out drunk on his couch, than in a ditch somewhere.

**

"Gil? You awake?" A soft voice called out through the morning lit living room. Gilbert's eyes snapped open at the sound of a voice, he jolted up. 

"Mattie?" He questioned. Matthew walked in the living room with a tray, holding water, pancakes and some ibuprofen. 

"You came here pretty drunk last night, so I figured I'd make you breakfast and give you some stuff the ease the hangover." he said, placing the tray on the coffee table. Gilbert groaned and covered his face with the pillow.

"Matthew Williams, you are too good to me." He said into the pillow, Matthew chuckled.

"Eat up, it'll make you feel better" He said. He pushed the pillow down from Gilbert's face. Gilbert looked up at him, his hair disheveled and his eyes slightly blood shot. Gilbert noticed him staring. 

"I look like shit don't I?" He asked, Matthew snickered. 

"A little bit yeah." Matthew replied, brushing a stray bang away from his face. His hands were soft, and a little bit cold against Gilbert's warm head. 

Gilbert couldn't help but notice the slight blush on the Canadian's face.


	4. Chapter 4

"So, update me on your progress with Matthieu?" Francis asked as he crossed his hands together, leaning forward over the table.

"The kids already fucking in love with me, seriously you should just see the way he looks at me. He's more comfortable now too, you know you can actually hold a conversation with him." Gilbert explained as he chugged the rest of his drink. The ice clinked against the glass as he placed it down. 

"Have you made a move yet?" Francis asked. Gilbert paused for a moment, before slowly shaking his head.

"I've joked and hinted at it but I haven't actually touched him yet. Well, I mean I did grab his ass but I was drunk and he hit me, so that doesn't count." He explained, the bartender stepped by and Gilbert ordered another drink. 

Francis nodded, twirling his wine in the glass, he raised an eyebrow at Gilbert, trying to be subtle.

"Just out of curiosity, what do you think of him?" He asked, hoping to get things moving a little quicker if he could get Gilbert to realize.

"Like, what do you mean what do I think of him?" It went straight over his head. 

"Like what's your impressions of him, do you like him...?" He picked his words carefully.

"I dunno, I mean he's fine I guess. He's a huge dork. It's not like I hate the kid but I don't like him, he's just what I'm using to prove you wrong." Gilbert boasted. Francis frowned. He still had that impression then, that wasn't good. 

"Well for someone you don't like, you sure spend a lot of time with him."

"Well yeah, I kinda have to."

"Or maybe you just want to." 

"What're you trying to say?"

"Nothing." 

Gilbert shot him a look. Francis wondered for a moment if he'd figured it out, but he didn't. However it definitely got the gears in his head turning.

Francis was up to something.

**

"Alright, you need groceries but like, why do I have to come?" Gilbert asked as he pouted in the passenger seat of Matthew's truck.

"Because you keep sucking up all the food in my house." Matthew retorted., turning left and pulling up in the grocery store parking lot. Gilbert groaned and pushed open the door, sliding out of the car, making whining noises as he stood. Matthew rolled his eyes.

"Can we get beer?" Gilbert asked as they walked up the lot.

"Yeah, okay." Matthew shrugged in reply. Gilbert internally celebrated. 

Matthew grabbed a basket and they made their way through the store, picking out all the necessities Matthew required. Gilbert slunked behind him, pouting, acting like a child following their mother. 

"Don't get that crap." Gilbert swooped in front of him, he took the beer case from Matthew's hand and placed it back down. "This is the stuff you need." he grabbed another case, nodding at him.

"I see you're a beer professional."

"More than that, I'm an expert." He said with a smirk. Matthew took the case from Gilbert and held it, before Gilbert ripped it back. "Nope." 

"Gilbert what're you doing?" Matthew questioned.

"You're holding the basket, I'll get the case it's heavy." He held the case away from Matthew as he reached for it. 

"I'm not weak." Matthew defended.

"I never said you were." 

"Yes, but you were implying that you're stronger than me." Matthew reached for the case again, he snatched it from Gilbert's hands.

"That's because I am stronger than you." Gilbert snatched it back. Matthew frowned.

"I play hockey you know." Matthew reminded him, Gilbert laughed.

"Ohh, watch out! What're you gonna do? Beat me with your figure skates?" He mocked, Matthew punched his shoulder. "Ow!" 

"It's not figure skating it's hockey! They're two completely different things!" He defended.

"Okay, whatever helps you sleep at night." He mocked again, so Matthew hit him again. Gilbert shoved him back. "Would you quit it!?" 

"Hockey is a sport." He said firmly. Gilbert rolled his eyes.

"Yeah? So's cheerleading." Matthew lunged for the case, Gilbert held it above his head, unfortunately for him, Matthew was an inch taller. He grabbed the case. Gilbert flicked his nose and Matthew sneezed, he grabbed the case while he was distracted and made a run for it down the isle.

"Gilbert Beilschmidt! Get back here!" Matthew sprinted after him, but Gilbert was faster. "Prussia!" 

Gilbert grabbed a near by cart, placing the beer case inside. He placed his foot on the bottom of the cart and pushed off, flying down the isle. 

"Try and catch me now Canadian!" He laughed as he flew past a group of shoppers, who gave him a concerned look. Matthew whipped around the corner, but Gilbert was no where to be seen. He ran down to the end of the isle and poked his head around. A white haired, laughing man riding on a cart would probably be pretty hard to miss. "Haha!" Gilbert laughed at he rode on the cart. "I'm so awesome!" He stuck his hands up in the air, riding free handed. 

Matthew caught his breath as he watched Gilbert fly past him, he grimaced. He grabbed an extra cart. This meant war. He made a running start, before jumping on the cart and riding after him. "I'm coming for you Prussia!" 

Gilbert glanced behind him, only to see Matthew racing after him in his own shopping cart, he sped up. "You'll never take me alive!" He hollered, racing ahead of him. Matthew kicked off the ground again, catching up to him. He was laughing, genuinely laughing. 

"You won't escape me, Prussia!" He called after him. He miscalculated his speed and accidentally flew ahead of him, losing control of the shopping cart. There was a slight downhill section of the store, Matthew heading straight for it. 

"Matthew, slow down!" Gilbert warned, racing ahead to get to him. Matthew looked less confident, not knowing how to slow down. He looked down at the speeding ground beneath him. 'Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!' He muttered in his head. "Mattie what are you doing?! You're gonna crash!" 

Matthew looked back at him with a look of terror. "Help!" He flew down the isle, heading straight for a shelf. "Gilbert!" He screamed, clinging onto the handles for dear life. 

"Matthew! Get off the cart!!" He yelled, trying the get to him as fast as he could. "Put your feet on the ground!" He instructed him. Matthew looked down at the speeding ground, he would definitely wipe out if he tried that. It was that or a shelf, which death would he prefer? He only had a few seconds to make up his mind. "MATT WATCH OUT!" 

Slam, right into the shelf. Gilbert's heart skipped in his mouth as he jumped off his cart. He ran towards Matthew, who lay face down in a pile of boxes and cans, the cart on top of him. Gilbert lifted the cart and threw it to the side. "Matthew!" He faced the blonde over to him, sighing with relief as he found the blonde was conscience, blood streaming down his face, but he was laughing. 

"Aw, were you worried?" 

Gilbert looked just about ready to punch him, but he was already bleeding. "You're a fucking dumbass you know that, why didn't you stop?" 

"I couldn't it was going too fast." Gilbert helped him off the ground. 

"Man, usually I'm the one getting hurt doing stupid shit."

"Well I mean, you started it." Matthew shrugged.

"Yeah. I'm a bad influence. Don't follow my example." he laughed out. Matthew burst out laughing, blood pouring down his face. "Shit. You're bleeding like crazy, let's get you cleaned up." Gilbert placed a hand between his shoulder blades, practically escorting him to the washroom. It was beyond both of them how they managed to not get kicked out of the store. Most of the employees didn't see it, just other customers.

Gilbert pinched Matthew's nose as he sat on the counter in the men's bathroom. He moved to touch it but Gilbert smacked his hand away. "Will you hold the fuck still?" 

Matthew pouted, crossing his arms. "My face hurts." He commented. Gilbert sighed as he switched tissues. He was supposed to be hitting on the guy, not performing first aid. 

"You okay? Did you break anything?" Gilbert asked, Matthew shook his head. 

"Miraculously, no." He said, Gilbert looked around him, grabbing him and checking for cuts and bruises. He sighed when he found a bump on Matthew's head, right under his bangs. 

"Next time, just let me hold the fucking case."

**

"Man, I thought he was gonna fucking die, he scared the shit out of me." Gilbert explained the story to Francis and Antonio. Francis couldn't hide the grin spreading across his face. Matthew was growing on him, just as planned. 

Gilbert's recent conversations pretty much consisted of 90% Matthew. Francis knew Gilbert didn't do a lot during the day. He was constantly bored so having Matthew was a good way to occupy himself with something, so naturally, all his interesting experiences consisted of Matthew. 

"So, what's your next plan? I mean, it's been over a week and you still haven't made a move on him yet." Francis asked, Gilbert gave a pondering look.

"Oh, right, the bet." He said, almost forgetting about it. "I don't know, I've just been sort of dicking around with him, I think it's been working pretty well." He said, tapping his fingers on the table.

Francis smiled. Yes, it was working very well indeed. Gilbert forgot about the bet, which meant he wasn't spending time with Matthew just as a bet anymore, that was good. His plan was falling into place. However, he still needed a push, something to get him to realize that maybe Matthew is more than a bet. He had just the plan for that. 

What Gilbert needed, was some competition.


	5. Chapter 5

Francis sipped his coffee while glancing at the Canadian across from him. He'd taken him out for what seemed like just a friendly family get together, but he had other intentions.

"I'm really glad we got to do this, I feel like I never get to see you anymore." Matthew stated with a smile as he stirred his hot chocolate.

"So am I." Francis smiled warmly. "Actually, I wanted to ask you, I know you're not much of a partier but it really breaks my heart to see you all alone while the rest of us are celebrating, so please, come to my party tomorrow." 

Matthew bit his lip and diverted his eyes. "I went to the last party remember? Alfred dragged me and I just ended up sitting there the whole time by myself." He shrugged. Matthew wasn't a partier. He didn't get the appeal. He'd much rather sit at home alone in front of the tv or with a book. That was his idea of relaxation.

"You weren't completely alone, as I recall, Gilbert talked to you did he not?" 

Matthew sputtered into laughter. "Pfft. Yeah, and look how great that turned out. Seriously he won't leave me alone, he's constantly at my house and if it's not that he's dragged me out to some ridiculous event. Not to mention all of the stupid, mind numbingly painful texts I get from him on a daily basis." Matthew ranted, Francis smirked.

"Welcome to the club." Francis chuckled lightly, having his fair share of dealing with Gilbert. "You like having him around though, non?" 

"Well, I guess. He's good company and pretty fun, though a bit...over whelming." Matthew shared with a nervous smile. Francis smiled and clapped Matthew's legs.

"Sounds like you've got your hands full then. Trust me, dealing with Arthur has been no walk in the park either, but one day you'll learn that sometimes it's worth it."Francis smiled fondly at the young nation, he took his hand lightly over his cup and made eye contact with him. "Remember that, alright?" 

"Yeah, one difference though, you and Arthur are together. There's nothing between Gil and I." Matthew stated, sounding almost somewhat like disappointment hidden behind laughter. He took a sip of his hot chocolate to ease the awkward situation. 

"That's where you're wrong, I think Gil likes you." 

Matthew spat his hot chocolate all down the front of Francis' shirt. Francis closes his eyes and grimaces while Matthew covered his mouth.

"Crap! I am so, so sorry!" He scrambled for the napkins, rubbing them on Francis' shirt. "Sorry, I'm sorry papa, I hope I didn't ruin your shirt, let me clean it up." 

"Matthieu-" Francis struggled out of Matthew's vigorous cleaning. "Matthieu it's alright, really." 

"No, it's not okay, I ruined everything. I'm sorry."

"Matthieu please-" Francis was cut off when Matthew shoved the napkin in his face, he winced. "Mathieu could you please stop?"

"I'll fix it I promise."

"Mon Cher-" 

"I'm sorry." He muttered again.

"MATTHIEU! ARRET!" He raised his voice. Matthew froze and dropped the napkins, slumping back in his seat. On lookers turned to them, concerned. Francis smiled apologetically. "Sorry to raise my voice, but please, Matthieu, it's fine."

"Sorry." He muttered, Francis frowned.

"Stop apologizing."

"S-" Matthew opened his mouth to apologize again before shutting it in realization. Francis sighed and shook his head.

"Look, the party is tomorrow night, it's a small crowd and only a few people are coming, I think you'll like that better." He made eye contact with the young nation. "It'd mean a lot to me if you came." 

Matthew sighed, he smiled at the French-Man. "Alright, I'll be there." 

Francis lit up with excitement, he leaned over the table and kissed Matthew on both cheeks. "Ah, Merci! I'm so happy!" 

Matthew winced and smiled as Francis grabbed his face. He laughed nervously. 

He was going to regret this, wasn't he? 

**

Matthew stood in front of the mirror, staring at himself. He wore a black shirt with a red flannel over top and black skinny jeans. He slumped his shoulders and frowned.

"I don't know about these pants." He ran his hand down the front of his leg and frowned, Alfred, who has been laying on his bed, let out an exasperated groan.

"Dude, for the hundredth time, you look fine." He said as he took another sip of his Coke bottle. "Who ya try'n impress anyway? Getting all dressed up like that." he motioned towards Matthew, the bottle still in his hand.

"No one! And what do you mean all dressed up? Am I over doing it?" He whipped around, Alfred groaned again.

"Jeez! No. Forget I said anything." He laid back down on Matthew's bed, picking up Matt's phone and playing with it. "Dude, why does Gilbitch text you so much?" 

Matthew sighed, taking his flannel shirt off to look for another. "I don't know, doesn't he do that with you?"

"Not nearly as much as he texts you." he said, scrolling through their conversation. 

"Why are you looking through my texts?!" Matthew whipped around. Alfred laughed.

"More like sexts, seriously Gil's layin it on a little thick there." he commented, Matthew flushed red.

"He's joking, that's just how he talks he doesn't mean anything by it." 

"I'm pretty sure he means something by it." Alfred commented, raising his eyebrows at one particular text.

"Ugh, don't go all Francis on me and try to convince me about a romance that isn't there." Matthew pouted, picking out another red flannel that was eerily similar to the last.

"Dude, I'm just saying, it's pretty clear he's attracted to you." 

"No he isn't." Matthew retorted, Alfred raised an eyebrow.

"Are you attracted to him?" He asked. Matthew answered in a huff.

"No."

"That was the least convincing no I've ever heard." 

Matthew grabbed his previous flannel and chucked it at his brother's head.

"Will you stop harassing me about Gilbert and get out of my room. Hell, what're you even doing here? Go home!" 

Alfred took another sip of his Coke. He chucked the shirt off him and onto Matthew's floor.

"Franny told me to come and make sure you actually went to the party, besides, I'm coming too."

Matthew frowned. Really? Was he that desperate to get him out of the house?

"Fine, but no more stupid questions. And stop looking through my phone!" He walked up to the bed and snatched the phone out of Alfred's hands, who stuck his tongue out in response.

"God forbid I bring up your undying love for Gilbert" he muttered, Matthew flicked him on the head. "Ow!" 

"I'm not in love with him." 

"Sure, I believe you." Alfred replied in a voice that made him want to punch him. Matthew snarled and stormed out of the room to the kitchen to turn off all the lights, Alfred snickered, taking pleasure in annoying Matthew and followed behind him.

"Gilbert I love you. Gilbert I do. When we're apart my heart beats only for you!" He sang around the house, Matthew gritted his teeth.

"Aww, come on Mattie, don't look so mad...hey, what're you doing? Don't, OW!" 

And thus, the daily fist fight emerged. 

**

The group of nations filled up France's living room. Francis had hosted the party solely for the reason of fulfilling his plan. He'd sent Arthur to Scotland's house to avoid any, complications involving him being far too much of an over protective twat for any of this to work. He invited just the nations he needed for this to work. Canada and Prussia, of course, Spain and America for background assistance and to make it look believable. Monaco, so it appeared he invited mostly family, Seychelles in there too. Italy came, and if Italy came that meant Romano and Germany came as well. Also it was good Germany was there, to keep Prussia in check in case things got a little too out of hand. He also invited Japan, so America would have some one to bother. He couldn't leave Russia and China out so they came along too. Last but not least, the most important yet unexpected guest, Cuba.

Why Cuba? Well it was simple, Gilbert needed some competition and no offence to Matthew, but he was pretty short on friends. However, he and Cuba had shared a special bond, just the kind of bond that would get a certain Prussian jealous. 

Matthew walked into the busy room. Nations were talking, drinking and laughing with each other. Matthew's eyes darted over to Gilbert, who was drinking in the kitchen with Francis and Antonio. He spotted Matthew's gaze and smiled, waving over at him. Matthew trudged over to him, a smile on his face.

"Mattie, I didn't know you were gonna be here." he greeted, patting the nation on the back. 

"Likewise, though, I guess I should've expected it." He laughed nervously. Francis approached him and kissed both his cheeks.

"Glad you came." Francis said cheerfully. Antonio smiled and nodded at him, pretending to know who exactly he was. 

"Man, you look hot, why don't you wear skinny jeans more often?" Gilbert asked, eying Matthew up and down, Matthew blushed awkwardly.

"I actually wear skinny jeans all the time." He muttered awkwardly. Gilbert let out a low whistle.

"Not this tight though, damn. Really sculpts your ass, might I add." He nodded towards Matthew's ass. Matthew awkwardly pulls his shirt down.

"Ah, thank you Gilbert, only took you thirty seconds to make me feel uncomfortable." He tightens his lip into a line, slightly glaring at the Prussian but maintaining an uncomfortable smile.

"Anytime." 

Matthew crossed his arms, looking away to avoid the laughter from the other three, when his eyes came across a familiar face talking to Seychelles. Gilbert turned around to talk to Antonio. Matthew's arms dropped and he smiled, treading over to the them.

"Carlos?! What're you doing here?" He asked excitedly as he walked across the room to great his friend. The Cuban turned around and grinned. 

"Hey! There's my Canadian!" He greeted in a friendly tone. Matthew grew a huge smile as he laughed and hugged his friend.

"Im so glad you're here, I was really dreading spending this party by myself." Matthew smiled, Carlos nudged his shoulder.

"Nah, you've got that prick of a brother to keep you busy." He laughed, Matthew followed in laughter. He nodded at Seychelles.

"Hey Sey." he greeted, she giggled and smiled at him. 

Gilbert laughed at Antonio's joke before turning around, only to see a certain Canadian missing.

"Where the hell did he run off to?" He glanced around the room, searching for said Canadian. His eyes travelled over to Matthew and Carlos. 

"Who's he talking to?" He nodded over to them. Antonio glanced in their direction.

"That's Cuba." He stated, since Antonio knew him fairly well. "I think they're friends." 

"Matthew has friends?" Gilbert questioned. Francis smirked behind his wine glass, it was all going according to plan. He watched as Matthew hugged his friend a second time, he raised an eyebrow. "He hugged him, does he always hug his friends?" 

Francis and Antonio both shrug, Gilbert frowns, watching him. "They seem rather friendly." he commented. 

"Why do you care?" Antonio asked.

"I don't." Gilbert looked away quickly. 

The nations continued to drink and mingle as the night went on, Gilbert had relocated in the living room, standing around with his friends. Matthew and Carlos has moved to a love seat not far from him.

"I really liked the last book I read, it was aboot a fantasy kingdom." Matthew explained, Carlos laughed and elbowed him lightly.

"Ha, you said aboot!" He mocked, Matthew giggled and playfully elbowed him back.

"Shut up." he said with a laugh.

Gilbert glanced over in their direction, watching them. He noticed how often they'd brush knees or elbow each other. He also noticed how the second he noticed Carlos, he completely ditched Gilbert.

Gilbert sauntered his way over to the two, pulling up a stool and plonking down right in front of them. 

"Oh hey Gil, come to make fun of my jeans again?" Matthew greeted.

"Yeah, nice to fucking see you too. Thanks for ditching me." He said accusingly, Matthew looked shocked.

"What're you talking about?" Matthew asked, genuinely confused.

"You've been sitting here all night giggling like some fucking school girl with macho man." Gilbert crossed his arms.

"Macho man?" Carlos repeated, confused.

"Sorry, it's just I haven't seen Carlos in a long time." Matthew stated, looking at Gilbert. Gilbert frowned.

"Whatever, I don't care. Do whatever you want, I just wanted to remind you that you're an asshole." 

"Thanks..." Matthew muttered. 

Gilbert didn't leave however, he sat in front of the two, arms crossed listening to the painful interactions between the two. He resisted the urge to mock Matthew's giggly laugh every time he heard it, something about the two of them just, bothered him. 

What particularly bothered him was when he'd go to point something out to Matthew, or say something funny and he'd be too wrapped up in his conversation with Carlos. Eventually, he stood up and left to go rant about it to Francis.

"Look at him, giggling and blushing like come on, how fucking obvious can you be?! If I have to listen to his stupid laugh one more time..." He nodded towards Matthew, who was smiling with a pink face.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous." Francis stated, Gilbert turned to him and frowned.

"What! I'm not jealous! What is there to be jealous of? I'm just annoyed that this 'Carlos' guy is getting in the way of my challenge!" 

Francis sighed and patted his friends back. "Don't worry, I'm sure Matthew will understand if you go over and ask him to pay attention to you." 

Gilbert smacked his friend's arms.

"Shut up, Faguette." 

Everyone was slightly drunk now, including Matthew, so Francis got the idea to have a bonfire, and bring everyone around. They all sat around on logs drinking, Matthew didn't sit beside Carlos however, he was sat beside Gilbert.

"Let's play truth or dare!" Alfred suggested. A few people groaned, knowing this wouldn't end well, Francis perked up.

"That's a great idea Alfred." he stated, his mind gaining wonderful ideas. 

"Alright, I'll start, Francis, truth or dare?" Alfred asked.

"Truth" Francis replied.

"Which child do you like better?" Alfred asked, trying to settle the argument he and Matthew had been having since they were kids. Francis sighed.

"I'm not going to answer that." 

"You have to. Just admit it, it's me." Alfred boasted, Matthew chucked a marshmallow at his brother's head.

"Alright fine. It's Seychelles." Francis answered with a smile, Alfred pouted in his seat. "Gilbert, truth or dare?" 

"Dare, I'm not a wuss like Matthew." 

"Hey!" Matthew looked at him accusingly, he smirked.

"Ouh! I dare you to do to take your underwear and put it on your head, then run around the streets singing Single Ladies!" Alfred yelled out. Gilbert raised his eyebrows at the oddly specific dare. Francis shook his head at Alfred, who ruined his plans. Gilbert smirked.

"Alright, I'll do it." he stood up and went behind the log, taking his pants off. "You can watch me if you want." he offered to Matthew with a joking smile, Matthew rolled his eyes.

"I'll pass thanks."

And Gilbert followed through with his dare, it was truly a sight to behold. Alfred got it on film. 

Gilbert smiled as he returned to his log. 

"Romano, truth or dare?" 

And thus, a night of embarrassing moments began. It was fun for everyone, until it finally came to Francis' turn again.

"Matthieu, truth or dare?" He asked, a mischievous smile on his face.

"Truth." Matthew replied, he didn't like the way Francis was looking at him.

"Don't be a wuss, pick dare." Gilbert commented, lightly smacking his side.

"Lots of people picked truth, you didn't call them a wuss." Matthew defended.

"That's cause they're not you." He said with a shrug, Matthew frowned.

"Why are you so pissy today?" He asked, noticing Gilbert's salty behaviour, Gilbert shrugged and Matthew sighed. "Fine, dare." 

Francis spoke up before anyone else could, he didn't want to lose this opportunity.

"You have to kiss Carlos." He said with a pleased grin. Matthew flushed red and Gilbert instantly went quite, his pleased grin faded, shooting a glare in Francis' direction. The rest of the crowd whistled and hollered. Matthew gave Francis a pleading look, he just shrugged. Sober Matthew would've probably come up with some obscure excuse not to. Like his country was currently dealing with a severe kissing disease. Unfortunately, sober Matthew was long gone. 

Matthew reluctantly turned to Carlos, walking over to his log, everyone cheered, except Gilbert, who sat quietly, his mouth formed a tight straight line.

Matthew awkwardly sat beside Carlos, ready to kiss him, before Carlos grabbed his face and pulled him in. Matthew flushed red and the group cheered again, Carlos using much more tongue than necessary. Gilbert watched with daggers at the two, particularly Carlos, who was taking it way too far for Gilbert's liking. He stood up and they pulled apart, everyone turning to Gilbert.

"That's all you've got?" He asked Carlos, walking over to the two.

"Think you can do better?" He asked in a sort of snarly voice. 

"Oh I know I can do better." Gilbert replied, the crowd burst with 'ohh's'. Matthew looked like he was ready to set himself on fire. "I'll prove it. Matthew!" Gilbert turned to him.

"NoGilbertthatsreallynotnecessary." He replied with one breath as Gilbert approached him, he scooted away from the approaching Prussian, almost falling off the log. 

"Nonsense, can't let Carlos show me up can I?" He asked. Matthew shook his head, standing up and backing away. 

"Gilbert you don't need to-"

Matthew was cut off as Gilbert pushed him back on to the log, sitting on top of him and grabbing him by the chin, pressing his mouth against his. His tongue pushed inside and wandered Matthew's mouth as he kissed him sloppily. Matthew looked a mixture of mortification, terror and some what, pleasure. He placed on hand on the back of Matthew's head and gave his hair a slight tug. The crowd whistled. 

Gilbert glanced up at Carlos as he bit Matthew's lower lip, giving it a slight tug before letting go. 

"So, how was that?" He asked with a grin. Matthew sat there, stunned. The crowd clapped, Gilbert bowed. He turned to Matthew, who was basically sitting there praying for the sweet release of death. He ran his fingered over his lip, feeling the bit mark Gilbert left behind. 

He glanced back up at Gilbert, two words floating through his head.

'Holy Shit'


	6. Chapter 6

"I don't get why you're pissed at me." Gilbert crossed his arms as he stood in Matthew's doorway. 

"You kissed me in front of basically everyone I know!" He yelled.

"Don't be so dramatic, I was rescuing you from Carlos." 

"I didn't need rescuing! And you didn't even help, you just made the situation a hundred times worse than it needed to be!" 

Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine, I'm sorry. Are you done giving me the silent treatment now?" 

Matthew frowned and fully opened the front door. "I wasn't giving you the silent treatment." He muttered.

"Don't pretend like you're not a passive aggressive fuck, I see right through you Matthew Williams." Gilbert pushed past him and stepped into Matthew's house, kicking his shoes off. Matthew sighed and shook his head, not bothering to continue the pointless argument. He trudged past the Prussian in the living room and went to resume cleaning his kitchen, not saying a word. Gilbert glanced back at him a rolled his eyes. 

"I thought you weren't giving me the silent treatment." Gilbert pouted from the couch. Matthew didn't reply. He continued aggressively putting away his dishes. Gilbert sighed. "Fine, whatever." he grabbed the remote and started flipping through his tv channels. "Man, Canadian tv sucks." 

"Why don't you go to America's then?" He commented from the kitchen, not turning around. Gilbert dropped the remote and turned to him, swinging one of his arms over the back of the couch and facing Matthew in the kitchen.

"Alright, spit it out. If you have something you want to say, say it." He said, giving Matthew his full attention.

"I already said what I thought." He replied simply, putting the plates in the top shelf.

"Then what the fuck is your issue? I said I was sorry. What do you want from me?"

Matthew sighed, turning to face Gilbert.  
"You really don't get it, do you Gilbert?"

"No, I really don't." 

"You're acting like you don't even care. It bothered me that you did that and yes you apologized, but you barely meant it and now you barge in here, expecting everything to just be fine. It feels like you're just using me and you don't even care what I think or what I'm comfortable with. Like you just except me to keep quiet and put up with it." Matthew ranted from the kitchen, a cloth in his hand as he told Gilbert how he really felt. 

Matthew was sensitive. Too sensitive. Gilbert didn't know how to react to that. Part of him wanted to lash out back and defend himself, while the other part of him wanted to apologize and buy him flowers. Of course he couldn't listen to that side. Nope. It had to be the other. 

"You don't need to be so dramatic about it. I was drunk okay? I didn't mean anything by it." He said, a scowl forming in his face. Matthew's expression seemed slightly hurt, but he didn't say anything, he just turned around and resumed the dishes. "Really? You're ignoring me again?" 

"Everything's just a game to you isn't it? Of course I know you didn't mean anything by it, why would you? But that doesn't make it any better. What if I liked you? How do you think that kiss would've made me feel?" He spoke up. 

Gilbert went quiet. He bit his lip, before standing off the couch and walking over to Matthew in the kitchen. Matthew quickly distracted himself with a plate, trying to ignore Gilbert by putting it away. Gilbert took it from his hands and spun Matthew around to face him. Matthew blinked twice.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"What?"

"Are you deaf? I said I'm sorry and I mean it, I shouldn't have played around with you like that. I'm not used to having friends who are as sensitive as you, not that it's a bad thing, I understand why you feel the way you do." he gripped Matthew's shoulders, facing him.

Matthew gulped, he closed his eyes and let out a breath. "I'm sorry too." 

"What for?"

"Being passive aggressive then lashing out at you like that." He looked down. "That was a bit unfair." 

"It's cool, I probably deserved it." Gilbert laughed, releasing Matthew's shoulders, Matthew chuckled along with him. "I'll make it up to you."

"Gilbert you don't have to do that-"

Gilbert cut him off. 

"No, I want to."

But in Gilbert's head, he came to a realization. He wasn't supposed to care what Matthew thought. However, things changed, and Gilbert was fucked.

He was friends with Matthew Williams. 

**

"What the fuck am I supposed to get him? What does he like?" Gilbert asked as he skimmed through one of the local malls with Francis and Antonio.

"I always make Lovi a fresh batch of curios" Antonio added in.

"Curios?" 

"Don't get him that, get him something from the heart, like flowers. Something romantic." Francis suggested.

"Why? He's not my boyfriend." Gilbert crossed his arms.

"You want him to be though, right? Isn't that the whole point you're doing this? The bet?" Francis asked, getting hopeful.

"Not this time. He was actually pretty pissed at me so I want to get him something he'll like, something he can't get anywhere else" 

"Well, you're not going to find anything like that at a shopping mall." Antonio added.

"Well, well, well, it looks like you've finally befriended my beloved Matthew. I was wondering when this would happen." Francis boasted.

"Shut up." Gilbert spat out. 

"What about a necklace?" Antonio spoke out. 

Gilbert paused. "That's, actually not a bad idea." 

They pulled off into a jewelry store, browsing through the necklaces.

"What about this one?" Francis pulled up a silver chain with a blue gemstone, Gilbert shook his head. It wasn't Matthew enough.

He scanned through then until one caught his eyes. A gold chain and at the end, a golden maple leaf. It was perfect. It wasn't too feminine and it suited him. 

"This one." Gilbert picked out, he paid for it, the woman smiled at him.

"I'm sure she'll love it." she said while wrapping it up.

"Oh, it's not for a she." Gilbert corrected awkwardly. She smiled and winked at him.

"Then I'm sure he'll love it." 

**

Gilbert opened Matthew's front door and stepped inside, as if it were his own home. Matthew was in the living room on the couch, he jumped up to greet him.

"I have something for you." They both said in unison. They both paused

"Wait, why do you have something for me?" Matthew asked.

"Because I said I was going to make it up to you, but why did you get something?" Gilbert asked.

"I felt like I needed to." Matthew replied. Gilbert frowned.

"Oh come on! I thought I was being the nice one for once!" He shouted with a laugh, Matthew chuckled. He stepped over to the living room and pulled up a pair of red and black socks.

"Here, I made them." He handed them to Gilbert. They were soft and thick. They felt extremely warm and stitched into the side was Gilbert's name.

"You made me socks?" He asked as he examined them.

"If you don't like them, you don't have to wear them." Matthew said quickly, Gilbert shook his head.

"Fuck you, I'm gonna wear them everyday" He said, ripping his shoes off to put on the socks. He was putting them on his feet when he noticed a tiny detail on the toe. Awesome was stitched on to top in silver stitching. Gilbert almost cried. 

Matthew was blushing, he looked down. "It's stupid I know I just had extra stuff and you're feet are always cold when you come here so I just sort of figured-" He shrugged. 

"They're awesome." Gilbert said, moving his feet around in the socks. "Oh, shit, here, I got you something too." Gilbert pulled out a small white box from his pocket, handing it to Matthew. 

Matthew opened the box and his eyes widened, he lifted up the necklace, holding it carefully in his hand.

"What do you think?" Gilbert asked, sounding slightly anxious, worried he wouldn't like it. 

"Oh, Gilbert, It's so nice. You got me this and all I got you was a stupid pair of socks." he said, examining the necklace. 

"Fuck you. I love socks." 

"Gilbert, thank you." He said warmly. Gilbert took the necklace from his hands. 

"Here, let me put it on you."

Matthew spun around and lifted his hair out of the way, even though he probably didn't need to. Gilbert moved his hand around his neck until the two ends met. He hooked the ends of the chain together before placing it down. 

"It looks good." he said as Matthew turned around to face him. This was way too close to sentimental for Gilbert's liking. He almost felt a blush creeping on his face. Fuck. He knew it was a bet but why did Matthew have to be so cute?! 

Matthew played with the maple leaf charm between his fingers. 

"So, like, you wanna come in and watch a movie or something?" He asked, Gilbert laughed.

"Well I didn't come over here just to stand in your porch, as nice as it is." He walks past Matthew, sliding around in his new socks. 

"Are they too warm?" He asked as he followed after him.

"Matthew stop worrying about the damn socks."

"Okay."

They curled up in the living room in their respective spots. Gilbert claiming the couch and Matthew claiming the arm chair. The sat and laughed together, watching whatever terrible movie they could find. 

Gilbert liked Matthew. Matthew liked Gilbert. 

They were screwed.


	7. Chapter 7

Gilbert laid face first on the bed as he mumbled into his pillow.

"He made me socks."

"Yes Gilbert, you said that about five times." His brother, Ludwig, said from across the room, lifting up a few old boxes. "You said you were getting rid of these boxes like a week ago. You're never this sloppy." 

"Hmm?" Gilbert perked his head up from the pillow and glanced over at his blonde brother. "Oh right, those. I haven't had time." He shoved his face back down.

"What exactly have you been doing?" His brother asked, crossing his arms.

"I've been at Matt's."

"Who?"

"Canada."

"Oh. I didn't know you two were friends." Ludwig said, slightly surprised as he pushed the boxes to clear the doorway.

"We're not." Gilbert corrected. Ludwig looked puzzled. "Well, I mean I guess we sort of are. Francis and I made a bet that I could make someone fall for me in a month, and Matt is that someone." He said from the pillow. Ludwig shook his head.

"What have you gotten yourself into?" He mumbled, Gilbert perked up again.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked.

"You seem pretty invested in this boy for someone who's just a 'bet'." He explained. "Is it not going to bother you that you won't be able to see him again after he finds out?"

Gilbert gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean I won't be able to see him again? We can still be friends."

"You really think he'll want to be friends with you after he finds out you've been using him this whole time?" Ludwig attempted to talk some sense into him. However it went right over head. He just shrugged and started playing with he end of his pillow.

"Whatever." Gilbert avoided the topic, almost as of he didn't want to think about it. "I told him we'd hang out tonight but I have literally no idea what to do with him." 

"Why don't you bring him to that haunted house that just opened up?" Ludwig suggested, pondering his mind for local activities.

"Yeah, cause haunted houses are just so romantic-" He paused mid sentence. "Wait a minute." 

Ludwig watched with concern as his brother leapt out of the bed, looking far too excited. "West! You genius!" He ran up to his brother and gripped his shoulders, shaking him back and forth. Ludwig looked perplexed at the physical human contact.

"What did I do?" He asked as he pried his brother's wrists away from him.

"What do people do when they're scared?" Gilbert asked, Ludwig opened his mouth to answer but Gilbert cut him off. "That's right! Cling to the nearest person. And you know who that nearest person is going to be? Ha! You guessed a it! It'll be me." 

"What if he doesn't get scared?"

"Nonsense! That kid's scared of his own shadow! There's no way he won't be freaked out! He'll be clinging to my awesomeness for protection, which'll make him like me even more!" 

"Or he'll just act like a normal person in a fake, haunted house." Ludwig said with a flat expression.

"Come on! Italy would be clinging to you if you brought him." He smacked his brother's chest.

"Italy is not normal."

Gilbert laughed and attempted to ruffle his brother's slicked back hair. 

"Pfft, whatever, it'll be awesome! Just watch me!"

**

"Why a haunted house? It's not even Halloween." Matthew questioned as he sat in the passenger seat of Gilbert's car.

"It's close enough!" Gilbert defended.

"Gilbert it's August." 

"Ja, that's only like, three months." He said as he counted on his fingers. Matthew sighed and shook his head. "Well if you have a better idea, speak the fuck up!" 

"No. Haunted house is fine." Matthew said, glancing out the window. Gilbert smirked.

"Don't worry...if you're too scared to go..."

"I'm not scared. There's nothing scary about fake, underpaid people dressed up in cheap costumes jumping out at people." He said with his arms crossed. Gilbert frowned.

"Buzz kill much."

"But hey, if you get scared, you're welcome to hold my hand." Matthew mocked with a smile. 

"I don't get scared!" Gilbert defended quickly. 

"Really? Not at all?" Matthew asked, humouring him. 

"Never. I've never been scared in my life. I'm too awesome to get scared."

"So you not scared of anything?" 

"Not a thing."

Matthew smirked. This was going to be a fun night.

**

He wasn't scared. He definitely wasn't scared. He was awesome. Everyone else sucked. He kept playing these thoughts through his head as they walked down the haunted school hallway. Of all the themes, it had to ghosts. The sound of a little girl laughing could be heard for the end of the hall, it made Gilbert's skin crawl.

"What was that?" He whispered to Matthew.

"Recording." Matthew said with his arms crossed. They walked further down, a classroom door swung open, both the boys jumped slightly. "I think we're supposed to go inside." Matthew stated.

"Nope. No way in hell I'm going in that death trap." Gilbert crossed his arms.

"Gilbert. It's fake, there's probably some clue in here." Matthew reasoned.

"There's totally gonna be some fucking little girl in a white sheet ready to jump out and eat our souls or whatever the fuck."

"I thought you weren't scared of anything?" Matthew grew a grin. Gilbert stood up straight.

"I'm not. I just don't want you to be scared then have to carry you out." He defended. 

"Right." Matthew nodded, before walking into the room. 

This was the least awesome thing ever. Matthew was showing him up! That sneaky little Canadian prick! He'd show him! 

Matthew scanned the room for clues to solve the puzzle, that was the point of the house. Gilbert followed behind, staying close to Matthew. Again, not because he was scared, but in case something jumped out so he could protect him. He spotted an oddly coloured box and lifted it up, examining it. A clown popped out of the box and Gilbert dropped it instantly, retracting his hand. Matthew darted his eyes over to him.

"You okay?" He asked, Gilbert nodded.

"Yeah. Fine. Just uh, looking for clues." He said, glancing around the room. 

They left the room and continued down the hallway, the floor creaked and the sound of a scream echoed through the hall. Gilbert gripped onto Matthew's wrist, before instantly letting go. Matthew didn't question it, he just lead the way through the house.

They walked through. Someone dressed as a young girl stood in the hallway. 

"They did this to me. It's all their fault." She muttered. Gilbert shuddered. He knew it was fake, but he was just so sick of being startled. The girl pointed down the hall. "This is where you'll meet your fate. They'll make you suffer, just like they made me."

Matthew and Gilbert looked at each other before walking down the pointed path. The hall was significantly less lit than the others. It was darker and colder. They heard the laughter of students as they walked further and further out. Right before the reached the door, a fake hanging corpse fell from the ceiling in front of them. Gilbert and Matthew both shrieked and grabbed on to each other when the lights turned on and the exit was in front of them, as well as an employee who snapped their picture. 

Matthew and Gilbert glanced at each other before awkwardly letting go. The employee girl laughed. She quickly printed the picture and handed them a copy. "This ones my favourites by far, priceless. Have a good one." She waved them off as they left. 

They walked in silence through the parking lot until the reached Gilbert's car. Matthew spoke up.

"Gilbert, you're afraid of ghosts, aren't you?" 

Gilbert went quiet. He fumbled with his keys before sighing. 

"Maybe." 

Matthew didn't laugh. He walked over to Gilbert before he could unlock the car. He leant up against the car. "It's okay, I'm afraid of chainsaws, you can thank America for that. Remember that movie, Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Gave me nightmares for years." He said with a laugh. Gilbert shoved his keys in his pocket, leaning next to Matthew. He laughed a bit. 

"It's a stupid thing to be afraid of but, it just freaks me out. I don't know why. I guess just the thought of just being cold and dead and stuck in the world forever. Then being powerless against some universe defying ghost." He explained. "Ghost's are dicks." 

"Yeah, they kind of are, aren't they?" Matthew laughed, Gilbert laughed with him. 

"What else are you afraid of?" Gilbert asked.

"I used to have nightmares of my family forgetting I existed. I would just be sitting there screaming and no one would hear me. Then I'd start drowning in this black emptiness, I would always scream for Alfred or Francis or someone and they'd never hear me." He explained, Gilbert looked at him concerned.

"That's deep." Gilbert commented. "Man, my dreams are always weird as shit. Like my brother turning into a girl and wrestling a dragon."Matthew chuckled.

"I had a dream that my Prime Minster was stuck in a pickle jar." Matthew stated. Gilbert gave him a weird look.

"I can top that. I once had a dream that Italy tried to take over the world with a spatula." 

They looked up at the starry sky. They heard high pitched screams of teenagers getting scared in the haunted house, they glanced at each other, wondering if that's what they sounded like. They both bursted out laughing. 

"Ice cream?" Matthew glanced at Gilbert.

"Ice cream." Gilbert nodded in confirmation and the two slid in the car, driving to the closest ice cream store.


	8. Chapter 8

Matthew pushed his cart as he wandered aimlessly through the grocery store isles. This time being careful not to ride the cart into a shelf. One experience of that was enough. It was totally Gil's fault though. He stood by that opinion. Gilbert had went to the other store to gather the most important product, in his opinion, beer. They split up to make the trip shorter so they could return to Matthew's and go back to watching bad movies. 

Matthew lifted up a box of crackers and placed it in the cart, before moving forward again. After collecting all the required grocery materials, he went to the self check out, to avoid talking to people and paid for his things. However as self checkouts never work and he took longer than expected. 

He left the store to go find Gilbert. It was dark out, as they'd realized pretty late that Matthew's fridge was a barren wasteland. He slid out the automatic doors, his arms filled with bags as he stepped out. He made his way down to the beer store across the small plaza where the stores were located. He noticed a large crowd outside one of the bars and purposely tried to make his way around to avoid them. However, they were blocking the only path available so he inevitably had to trudge past them. 

He heard snickering as he passed. 

"Faggot!" He heard a drunk guy call out. His head snapped up as he glanced at the drunk man and his group of drunk friends. The group looked in their 20's. He was outnumbered. Not that he was going to retaliate anyone. Matthew didn't care. "That's right, you heard me bitch." The guy called out again. Matthew avoided eye contact and kept walking. 

"Aw, don't run away." Another one called out. Matthew kept walking. In his head he went on about how he didn't care, but it did make him very uncomfortable. 

"Fucking pussy." The first one muttered. Well. They seemed pleasant. He went past them, they didn't do anything. He walked into the beer store and resumed looking for Gilbert, trying to push the thought of the group outside the bar to the back of his mind. 

He strolled down the isles looking for him, when he spotted him heading for the checkouts. Gilbert spotted him back and sighed. 

"Where the fuck have you been?! You said you'd be here in 15 minutes?" He scolded. Matthew shrugged.

"Self checkouts are slow." He replied. 

"Then why use it?" Gilbert asked harshly.

"Cause then I don't have to talk to people." Matthew replied. Gilbert frowned and smacked him upside the head. "Ow!"

Gilbert sighed and shook his head as he walked over to the checkout. "Here. Let me show you how it's done." 

The girl at the check out pushed back her hair as Gilbert approached. She smiled shyly at him.

"Hi, how are you?" She asked in a voice that Matthew knew was way more high pitched than her own. 

"I'm awesome, you?" He asked with a smile.

"I'm great, thanks for asking! Did you find everything you need?" She asked while scanning the case of beer.

"Have any idiot repellent?" He joked, glancing at Matthew, who crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. The girl giggled. 

"Ha. You're hilarious." Matthew muttered. Both Gilbert and the girl ignored him.

"So, your names Rebecca?" He asked, reading her name tag.

"That's me." she replied. 

"Nice, I'm Gilbert." He waved. She smiled. 

"So, you two having a party?" She asked, glancing at the copious amount of beer. 

Gilbert laughed. "No, I wish. Matt's not much of a partier. He's too anxious." Matthew glared at him slightly.

"Oh, I have a friend like that." She replied, talking about Matthew like he wasn't even there. 

"Yeah, that's why I'm hanging out with him you see? So he doesn't feel so bad about being alone." Gilbert said in a dumbed down voice. Matthew was pretty sure he was doing it solely for the reason of pissing him off.

"Aw, that's so sweet of you." She said with a smile, Gilbert grinned. Matthew crossed his arms and diverted his attention to the small bottles of flavoured vodka at the side. She finished the transaction and Gilbert paid. When she handed him the receipt, she had scribbled her number on the back, and Matthew was definitely not jealous. Of the girl, or of Gilbert. He couldn't really tell. "I get off at 11." She said with a soft wink, Gilbert raised his eyebrows and nodded towards her, before turning and leaving, Matthew followed behind.

"And that Matthew, is how you talk to cashiers." He said as he folded up the receipt, putting in his pocket.

"You're not actually going to call her. Right?" Matthew asked as they left the store.

"Jealous?"

"Don't flatter yourself." Matthew crossed his arms. "You know, I used to think Alfred was the most condescending, egotistical asshole I'd ever met. Then I met you. Congratulations." 

Gilbert laughed. "I'm honoured." He started walking in the direction of the bar to get back to his car, then Matthew remembered the people outside.

"Eh, let's not go this way." He said quickly, Gilbert shot him a look.

"Why?" He asked.

"Just because. I know a faster way." Matthew stopped, trying not to be obvious. 

"Mattie, this is the only way out. Unless you plan on climbing that fence which with your motor skills, would be hilarious." Gilbert grinned slightly. 

Matthew paused. He had a point. Matthew sighed and gave in. "Yeah, alright fine. You're right." 

"What's wrong with going this way in the first place?" Gilbert asked, Matthew shrugged.

"Nothing. Just like some guys called me a faggot and stuff when I walked by. Not a big deal." He said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"What?! What did you say back?" Gilbert halted. He turned back to Matthew as if he had three heads. Matthew was slightly taken aback by his reaction. 

"Nothing." He said, backing away from Gilbert in fear he might expload. 

"Nothing?! You just walked by and let them say that to you?" Gilbert looked as though this concept was completely incomprehensible.

"Yeah. I don't really care it didn't bother me I just don't really want to walk past them again." He muttered. Gilbert placed his hand to his forehead and sighed.

"Matthew!" He said in an exasperated tone.

"What?! There were like six of them and one of me. Not really the situation to defend one's honour." 

Gilbert looked perplexed. "Yeah but like, you're you! Why would they call you out? Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" 

"I didn't think it was important." He shrugged. Gilbert glanced at the crowd in front of the bar and pointed.

"Those guys?" He asked, Matthew nodded. Gilbert stormed off in their direction. Matthew watched in shock.

"Gilbert what the hell are you doing?" He asked as he sped walked over to him.

"Going to stand up for your sorry ass cause apparently you're too much of a wuss to do it yourself." He said, heading straight towards the group. Matthew grabbed his wrist and pulled him back.

"Don't you dare! That'll just make it worse. Why do you even care?" Matthew asked. Gilbert frowned and pried his wrist free.

"Cause you're the nicest person I've ever met and I don't like when assholes screw with nice people." He defended. Matthew tried to push back the blush creeping on his face.

"You screw with me all the time." He mutters.

"That's different I'm your friend. Now let me kick some ass for you." He stormed off. Matthew chased after him. 

"Gilbert wait!" 

Gilbert walked up to the crowd. They stopped laughing and turned to him. He stood in front of him with his arms crossed.

"The fuck do you want?" One of them asked.

"You the guys that called that blonde kid a faggot?" He asked, nodding towards Matthew who'd caught up with him. 

"Gilbert don't-" He sighed out. 

"Oh no, did you go and tell your boyfriend on me?" He mocked at Matthew. 

"Ha ha, that's funny" Gilbert shot out a fake laugh before frowning. "Now listen here you little shits. Say something like that to him again and I'll personally put your ass in the ground."

The group of drunk men all spurt out hollers of imitation. Matthew shrunk into himself, wishing he could just set himself on fire. 

"The fuck are you gonna do you little punk bitch?" He glowered over Gilbert.

"Would you like me to show you?" Gilbert offered. His friends gathered in a circle around them, chanting 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' Matthew stuck his head over the crowd, being blocked out by the other guys. 

"Come try me! Unless you're too much of a pussy." The man coaxed. Gilbert laughed for a moment, before swinging the first punch. The man was flung back, before glaring and Gilbert then swinging his own drunk fist to hit him. 

"Aw. Nice try. That almost hurt." Gilbert mocked as he wiped a bit of blood from his nose. "Maybe once you grow a pair, you'll be able to throw a real punch." 

That seemed to be the final straw for the guy as he glared at Gilbert and pounced on him, tackling him to the ground. Matthew's eyes widened as he pushed through the crowd of cheering drunk men, deciding to put an end to it.

"Get off!" He yelled as he dragged the man off Gilbert from the collar of his shirt. He pulled him off and the man stood up straight, he turned to Matthew before glaring and swinging a punch at him. Matthew flew back a bit as his glasses fell to the ground and shattered. 

Gilbert stared at the man. Big fucking mistake. He glared daggers at him as he stood up, looking ready to murder someone. "You son of a bitch!" Gilbert threw himself at the guy, pushing him to the wall and punching him. The guy pushed him off and punched back.

Matthew knelt to the ground and felt around for his glasses. He couldn't see shit without them and he couldn't stop Gilbert if he couldn't see shit. He finally found them and grabbed them quickly. The lenses were cracked and it was hard to see but better than nothing. 

The bar tender from inside stormed out at the commotion and started yelling. Matthew ran up to Gilbert and pulled him off as the bartender grabbed the man and yanked him back. 

Gilbert tried to throw himself at the guy again but Matthew held him back. "Gilbert! Calm down!" He yelled. The bartender screamed at them and kicked them all out, saying if they didn't leave she'd call the police. Matthew grabbed Gilbert's arm and dragged him to the car. He opened the door and sat him down, pulling out whatever napkins he could find to clean up his nose.

"What the fuck Gilbert!" He yelled. Gilbert laughed.

"Hey, you swore." He said in a jolly voice.

"Why would you do that?! There were six of them and one of you? What would've happened if the others joined in? You could've gotten so hurt! Look at you! You're bleeding!" He ranted. Gilbert rolled his eyes.

"It's a nosebleed, I can handle it." He said as Matthew plugged his nose and pushed the tissue against it. "Are you okay though? He hit you." 

"He hit me once Gilbert. How many times did he hit you? Like twenty?" Matthew lectured. Gilbert groaned.

"Don't be so dramatic I'm fine. Ha, look at your glasses." He pointed and the shattered lenses of Matthew's glasses. Matthew rolled his eyes.

"It's fine. I have extra. That's what comes with having lived with Alfred." He says as he pulled the tissue away, replacing it with a new one. "You really shouldn't have done that. A couple dumb drunk guys saying crap to me is nothing to pick a fight over." 

"Fine. Maybe I over reacted. But the guy fucking punched you!" He pointed at Matthew.

"I'm not made of glass, I can handle a punch." He shrugged. "I don't think you give me enough credit."

Gilbert shrugged. "Maybe you're right. Sorry." 

"It's alright. You were only standing up for me. Thanks by the way." he spoke softly.

Gilbert darted his eyes away. "Uh. You're welcome. Promise me one thing though." 

"What is it?" Matthew looked up at him, removing the tissue fully.

"Next time someone says something like that to you, stand up for yourself. Okay?" He asked. Matthew sighed.

"Okay. But you have to promise not to pick stupid fights." 

"Deal." Gilbert grinned as he shook Matthew's hand. 

"Here, I'll drive back." Matthew said, taking Gilbert's keys.

"Be careful with my child." Gilbert referred to his car as he slid into the passengers seat. 

"Don't worry. I'm a good driver trust me, my country has speed limits." Matthew joked as he climbed into the drivers seat. Gilbert laughed.

"That's West's fault." He replied as he watched Matthew back the vehicle out of the spot.

The rest of the car ride was filled with laughter and Gilbert being a backseat driver. They made their way back to Matthew's to proceed with their initial plan.

Getting drunk and watching bad movies.


	9. Chapter 9

Gilbert laid across Matthew's couch as he stuffed marshmallows into his mouth. He'd never been one to binge on junk food but something about Matthew's house made him crave sweets more than ever. 

"So. Explain to me the concept of poutine." Gilbert said as he pushed another marshmallow into his mouth. 

Matthew was laying across the arm chair, picking at his nails. "It's gravy over fries with cheese but the gravy has to be warm enough to melt the cheese or else it's a disgrace. Sometimes it'll have bacon or other types of meat in it, depending on where you get it." 

"That sounds disgusting." Gilbert could not wrap his head around it. Matthew shot his head up.

"It's not disgusting! It's a gift from the heavens!" He threw a pillow at Gilbert's face. Gilbert caught it and chucked it on the ground, where Matthew's polar bear proceeded to lay on it. 

"Gravy doesn't go on French fries. It defies the laws of the universe." 

"I've seen you dip French fries in milkshakes." Matthew crossed his arms.

"Cause it's good." Gilbert defended.

"How would you know if poutine is gross? You've never even tried it." 

"I don't need to try it to know it's gross." 

"Alfred likes it."

"Alfuck likes everything."

"Poutine is the reason to live. You need to accept poutine in your life." Matthew preached. "I'm going to make you eat it."

"I'll never put that garbage in my mouth." He chucked the bag of marshmallows on the coffee table.

"I'll make you." Matthew threatened as he sat up. 

"I'd like to see you try." Gilbert scoffed. Matthew smirked. 

"You better watch your back Gilly." He taunted. Matthew knew how to make a pretty mean poutine.

"Is that a threat?" Gilbert sat up and shot Matthew the warning eye.

"What if it is?" Matthew asked playfully.

Gilbert laughed a bit. "Getting cocky are we?" 

"Yeah. What are it gonna do about it?" Matthew joked. 

"Beat that stupid smirk off your stupid face." He threatened.

"Oh. I'm petrified" Matthew faked terror. He gave Gilbert the 'come at me' glance. Gilbert gladly took the invitation.

He stormed over to Matthew's chair, yanking him up by the arm and pushing him on to the floor. Matthew was slightly shocked, not thinking Gilbert was actually going to do it. He lifted up a pillow for self defence. Gilbert jumped off the chair after him when Matthew surprise slapped him with a pillow. Gilbert blinked.

"You little shit." He gritted his teeth. Matthew grinned. Gilbert dove for Matthew but he jumped out of the way. He jumped to his feet and got to a mock karate position. 

"I'll have you know I spent three years training in the dojo." Matthew warned.

"You are still but a grasshopper! You have much to learn kid!" 

Matthew grabbed the broom next to him and lifted it in the air. "On guard!" 

Gilbert grabbed Matthew's hockey stick leaning against the couch. "Bring it Canadian."

"I'll take you with a single blow!" Matthew shouted. 

And thus, a sword fight emerged. The dangerous battle between Sir Gilbert, the dark knight and karate master Matthew. Gilbert swung the hockey stick and Matthew blocked it with his broom. 

Matthew did have one disadvantage however and that was the fact that Gilbert actually knew how to sword fight. Since he lived back in the day when that was an actual thing that people did. However, sword fighting with a hockey stick was a tad different, yet he still managed to disarm Matthew of his broom. Gilbert smirked when Matthew realized his mistake. Matthew attempted to make a run for it when Gilbert took him out in one move. He kicked under his feet and Matthew stumbled to the ground. Gilbert lunged on top of him and sat on his chest, pinning him down to the ground. He smirked as he leant over his face.

"You were saying?" Gilbert taunted. Matthew frowned as he glared up at Gilbert's shit-eating grin. Gilbert never passed up the chance to show off. Matthew lifted his hands to push Gilbert off. Gilbert grabbed his wrists and forced them down to the ground beside him. "Nice try."

"Get off." Matthew wheezed out from the weight of Gilbert on his stomach.

"Nope. Not until you admit that I'm the coolest person ever and my awesomeness is too much for you to handle." 

"Screw off!" He fought against Gilbert, struggling to pry his wrists free. Gilbert held him down with ease. 

"Say it."

Matthew continued to struggle until he freed his wrist. He lifted it and flicked Gilbert in the nose. Gilbert loosened his grip as he sneezed and Matthew took his opportunity to push him off and make a run for it. 

He managed to push him off however he didn't make it very far before Gilbert lunged for him. They were both sat on the ground and Gilbert held back Matthew's arms with one hand behind his back and pinched his face with the other.

"Ah ah ah." He mocked in his ear. "You can't get away from me Mattie. Now say it."

"Never!" Matthew yelled with his cheeks pressed together by Gilbert's hand. He pressed harder.

"Say it!" 

Matthew struggled against him before giving up, just wanting his freedom again. "Gilbert is the coolest person ever and I can't handle his awesomeness." He mumbled quickly.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't hear you." Gilbert said with a pleased grin. 

"I hate you."

"No you don't. You think I'm the coolest person ever. Now say it." Gilbert loosened his grip on Matthew's cheeks so he could talk clearer and Gilbert could relish in his victory. "Here, I'll help you. Repeat after me. I, Matthew Williams, admit that Gilbert Beilschmidt is the coolest person to ever walk this earth. I am blessed to be in his awesome presence."

"I, Matthew Williams, admit that Gilbert Beilschmidt is the coolest person to ever walk this earth. I'm blessed to be in his awesome presence." Matthew muttered. Gilbert shot him a pleased grin as he let him go. Matthew dove away from him. 

"There. That wasn't so hard was it?"

Matthew glared silently at him as he internally plotted his revenge.

He'd get him back. One of these days. 

**

Revenge on Gilbert hadn't been as easy as Matthew had predicted. Gilbert was more alert when he was sleeping than Matthew was even when he was awake. Gilbert said it was from the days he spent as a soldier. Regardless, that crossed dumping water on him while sleeping off the list of potential revenge plots. 

He attempted to do ye old swap beer with apple juice trick but it occurred to him that it was in fact him, who paid for the beer and he didn't really want to waste it. 

His last idea popped into his head while he was laying in bed. There was one skill that Matthew had that Gilbert didn't. That was the skill of letting out pent up rage through his favourite sport. Hockey.

An evil grin spread across the blonde's face. 

Prepare yourself Gilbert. You're about to get crushed.

**

"Why do you want me to play hockey with you?" Gilbert asked as Matthew led him through the doors to the indoor rink where he practiced. 

"Because I want you to share the things in life that are important to me." He lied. He tossed Gilbert a pair of Alfred's old skates. Which he stole...which he borrowed from Alfred to use for Gilbert. They were slightly big on him but meh, it'd work well enough.

"That's the most bull shit answer I've ever heard." Gilbert crossed his arms.

"Just shut up and put your skates on." Matthew demanded. Gilbert pouted.

"Okay okay." He said as he struggled to tie his laces. 

Gilbert had never skated before. It was just something he never tried. He'd heard legends of Matthew rink rage but he didn't think it was possible for such a noodle to turn into such a beast. Boy was he wrong.

Gilbert struggled to balance himself on the ice. "Erm." He held his arms out to keep himself standing.

"Need a minute?" Matthew asked, already putting on his padding. Gilbert glanced at it. 

"What's with all the padding?" He asked.

"Protection. Yours is over on the bench." Matthew nodded over to the bench. Gilbert died a little inside knowing there was more stuff he had to put on.

"Can I just go without?" 

"Trust me. You'll need it."

"Is that a challenge?" He asked. He should've known better than to provoke Matthew on the ice. 

"Won't be much of a challenge if I plummet you in seconds cause you don't have padding." He said as he stood up on the ice. Gilbert frowned.

"Fine. I guess you didn't learn from last time. I accept your challenge." He said confidently as he went over to the bench to retrieve his padding. 

"First one to ten goals wins." Matthew announced as he threw the puck into the middle of the ice. The two skated after it. Gilbert reached out his stick to grab it before Matthew body slammed him out of the way, stealing the puck and scoring it into Gilbert's net. 

"Hey!" Gilbert yelled as he struggled to stand up on the ice. Matthew smirked. 

"Sorry. Want me to go easy on you?" He asked. Gilbert flipped him off.

"Okay. Now you're in for it!" 

He definitely was not in for it as Matthew took him out easily with another body slam and scored another point. This time, Gilbert tried to push Matthew out of the way, but Matthew dodged and Gilbert lost control of his skates and flew by, slamming into the boards. Matthew stole the puck and scored his third point.

And one point, Gilbert managed to steal the puck from Matthew and made a run for his net. He glanced behind him to see the ice beast storming after him with the power of a thousands angry gods. Gilbert died a little more inside. Matthew caught up to him and practically hurled him across the rink.

Gilbert died a little more on the outside too.

By the final goal Matthew scored, Gilbert was dead. He was laying on the ice, staring at the ceiling as Matthew hovered above him. He wondered if he'd gone to far. 

"Don't say it." Gilbert warned. "Just don't."

"I think there's something you have to say. Something along the lines of I, Gilbert Beilschmidt, admit that Matthew Williams is the coolest person to ever walk the earth. I am blessed to be in his awesome presence." 

Gilbert flipped him off and Matthew laughed. He held out a hand and helped Gilbert to his feet and off the ice. Gilbert was definitely gonna have a few bruises after this. Matthew was probably going to fret about it and feel awful but right now he was in hockey mode, and it was totally worth it. 

That was the day Gilbert learned to never insult poutine again.


	10. Chapter 10

Gilbert slumped on the chair in his living room as he sat in silence, only the sound of his brother's pen scratching against the paper filled the air. Gilbert scrolled through his phone, trying to find anyway to distract himself from his own thoughts. 

"You're quiet. What's wrong?" His brother asked from the table. Gilbert lifted his head from his phone.

"Hmm?" 

"You're usually blabbing on about something."

"Oh. I dunno. Just thinking." He replied simply. Ludwig placed his pen down on the table.

"About?" 

Gilbert raised an eyebrow at his younger brother. "Stuff." 

Ludwig nodded in acknowledgment. He figured he wasn't going to get anything out of Gilbert so he resumed working on his paper. Gilbert was quiet for a few moments longer before he spoke up again.

"How do you know if you like someone?" Gilbert asked. Ludwig shot his head up.

"Well um, from my experience, you want to be around them, you think really highly of them, find them...intriguing." Ludwig struggled to find words to describe it.

"Intriguing?" Gilbert questioned with an amused face. Ludwig shook his head.

"I don't know you just, sort of know. Why are you asking?" 

Gilbert shrugged. He played with the hem of his sweater between his fingers. 

"What if like, you're not supposed to like them?" 

Ludwig paused for a moment. "Gilbert. Is this a about that bet?" He asked. Gilbert diverted his eyes away, not replying. Ludwig sighed. "I already told you my thoughts on this. It's immature and hurtful to play with this boys feelings like this. However, if your feelings are genuine, perhaps it's best to forget about the bet and strive for a real relationship."

Gilbert thought about his brother's words. A real relationship? That sounded nice. It also sounded super impractical. Who was he kidding? It'd never work out anyway. Why get his hopes up? No point making it into a big deal. Gilbert would get over it.

He shrugged and slumped back down into the couch. He envied the relationship his brother had with Italy. He was amazed at how they could make it work with the two being so different. Yet, they did compliment each other.

Gilbert wondered if he and Matthew could be like that. 

**

"Mattie! Come on we're gonna be late!" Alfred whined from outside Matthew's bathroom door. "Hurry up dude!" 

Matthew slammed the door open and trudged out. "Okay okay, I'm coming jeez." He pushed past his brother and walked to his wallet, shoving some cash into his pocket. "I don't see why we need to go to this every year."

"Cause it's fun! Come on this is the fair we've been going to since we were kids. Now hurry up, Gil and Matt are waiting for us."

Matthew turned to him and struck him a confused look. Alfred rolled his eyes.

"Not you Matt, Matthias. You know, Denmark. The better Matt." He explained, Matthew nodded in understanding. 

"Right then. At least you'll have people to distract you so I'm not stuck with your ugly face the whole time." Matthew stated. Alfred stuck his tongue out and Matthew reciprocated. 

The two popped into Alfred's truck and drove over to the annual fair that was a huge event for both the two nations.

**

Gilbert crossed his arms as he waited at the gates, checking the time on his phone.

"Those assholes are late" he remarked. His loud, blonde friend laughed beside him.

"Don't worry about em, I'm sure they're on their way." Matthias stated as he patted Gilbert on the back. 

As if on cue, Matthew and Alfred ran through the gate to meet up with the other two nations. Gilbert frowned as they went up to greet them.

"Took you long enough." 

"That's Mattie's fault, he took forever curling his hair or whatever the hell it was you were doing in there." Alfred stated as he put on his wristband for the fair. 

"I wasn't curling my hair! I was brushing my teeth." Matthew defended.

"For twenty minutes?" Alfred questioned. Matthew frowned, he looked away embarrassed.

"I like to take my time." He said awkwardly. Alfred rolled his eyes and smacked him over the head.

"Dork."

Before a fight could emerge, Matthias approached the two and swung an arm around each of their shoulders.

"There you guys are! Gil was getting antsy." He said as he practically dragged them into the fair. Gilbert rolled his eyes.

"I don't like waiting." he stated. Matthias grinned.

"Me neither! Let's go on a ride! Which one? I'm thinking that one!" He said with excitement as he pointed at the biggest, highest, most you-will-definitely-die if you go on here one in the whole fair. Both Alfred and Gilbert grinned.

"Let's do it." Alfred said as he hooked arms with Matthias and the two skipped over to the ride. Matthew looked upon it with dread.

He wasn't afraid of rides. He'd been on many as a kid. He didn't mind being high up. What he did mind however, was being plummeted to his death on this hell trap of a ride they were currently walking towards. Of course, he wasn't going to protest. He didn't want to listen to the three of them mocking him for being afraid. Especially Alfred. He'd gotten enough of that while he was a kid on these types of things. 

The four waited in line as the heavy metal music came from the speakers. Matthew watched in embarrassment as the three pretended to head bang to it, Gilbert doing the air guitar. He smiled awkwardly and turned away, pretending he didn't know them. A group of teenagers laughed and pointed at them. 

"Alright, who's riding with who?" Matthias asked. Gilbert locked arms with Matthew. 

"I'm with him." He said. "I wanna hear him screaming, it'll be funny." 

"You're a sadist." Matthew retorted, Gilbert grinned and ruffled his hair playfully. 

The line went by quickly and finally the green cart arrived on the tracks of the roller coaster. Alfred and Matthias slid in the seats in front of Matthew and Gilbert. The bar locked down in front of them, securing them in as Matthew waited for death.

"Nervous?" Gilbert asked with a shit-eating grin. 

"N-No." Matthew replied quickly.

"You're white knuckling that bar." He glanced towards Matthew's hands, which were gripping the bar for dear life. Matthew glanced down at his hands then relaxed them.

"Shut up." He muttered as he heard Gilbert laughing next to him. 

The ride slid into motion and Matthew tensed. It slowly started moving towards the hill, making its way up the steep slope. Matthew gripped onto the bars again. Nope. Nopity nope nope. Goodbye cruel world. 

Gilbert watched in amusement. He was more amused by Matthew's reaction than the actually ride itself. 

As the reached the top of the hill, Matthew said his final goodbyes to a harsh and unforgiving world. The ride halted to a stop and waited a moment before bolting down the steep hill.

Alfred cheered and threw his arms up in the air, Matthias did the same. Gilbert kept his arms to his side as Matthew gripped on to the bar and paled. He looked like he'd seen death. He didn't scream. He was in too much shock. Instead he gripped onto the bar and tried to keep his stomach inside of him. 

"Wo!" Alfred cheered as the went over another hill, then a loop. Some how through all this, Matthias' hair managed to maintain its form. 

They went through a dark tunnel and the ride snapped a picture of them. It went on for a bit longer until the hell finally came to an end. Matthew was panting by the time the ride stopped and Gilbert was laughing his ass off. 

"Mein Gott. That was priceless!" He hollered. Matthew didn't say a word, he left the cart, feeling the sweet sensation of the ground. 

The rest left the ride and they stood in front of the screen where they saw the picture taken. Matthias was posing like a model while Alfred was grinning holding a big thumbs up. Gilbert held his hand to his chin and did a suave face while Matthew looked absolutely terrified. The three laughed at the picture while Alfred pulled out his phone and took a picture of the screen. 

"Aw, come on Matt, don't look so petrified." Gilbert swung an arm around his shoulder and started to drag him to the next ride.

Ah. Yes. Now Matthew remembered why he hated coming here.

**

Next was one of Matthew's personal favourites. Bumper cars. It gave him a chance to let loose more of his repressed aggression. However he found that he and Gilbert got a little too into it.

"Turn left! Turn left!" Gilbert screamed as Matthew yanked the wheel to the left and the narrowly avoided an angry twelve year old girl and her car of death. 

"Where'd they go?" Matthew asked, glancing around for Alfred and Matthias' car. They were their targets and Matthew needed to ram into them. Gilbert craned his neck around and searched them. He spotted them in a corner pile up that Alfred was desperately trying to free them of. 

"There." he pointed. Matthew spotted them and the two grew identical smirks as the rode over to the pile up at full speed. Gilbert laughed and cheered as Matthew raced over to them. 

WHAM!

Alfred and Matthias' car slammed into the wall as the pressure of about six other cars slammed into them. Matthew and Gilbert cheered and high fived.

 

"Ha ha! Suck it!" Gilbert called out to them. Matthew grinned and pulled away, searching for their next victim

**

After a full three hours of screaming teenagers and motion sickness, the four took a spot on a bench and ate unhealthy amounts of Cotten candy. 

"Bro! We should go on the death tower after this!" Alfred recommended. Matthew shook his head.

"Alfred I will literally spew vomit all over the park. I can't take anymore." He said, eating some Cotten candy, probably not helping his stomach but meh, he never said no to food.

**

Matthew and Gilbert stood in front of the game stands. 

"Pick out a prize, I'll win it for you." Gilbert claimed. Matthew looked around awkwardly.

"You don't have to do that."

"But I am, so pick out a damn prize."

Matthew's eyes scanned the prizes. His eyes travelled to the stuffed polar bear more than once but he pretended he didn't know. Luckily, Gilbert knew how to read him fairly well by this point.

"I'll win him the polar bear." He told the girl running the stand. She handed him three plastic rings. The objective of the game was to toss the ring on to one of the glass bottles. It was a simple game, especially for something that cost ten dollars to play. 

Gilbert smirked at him before tossing the first ring. It went no where near the bottle. He frowned. "That's was just uh, practice throw." 

He tossed the second one. It was closer this time, but still off. He muttered a curse under his breath. The third time he threw, it barely made it onto the bottle. 

"Ha Ha! I won! Suck it!" He celebrated. The girl brought down the stuffed bear and handed it to Gilbert, who shoved it into Matthew's hands. "Did you see that? I'm great aren't I?" 

Matthew shook his head and smiled. "Pure talent. I'm so proud."

"You should be."

"Thanks by the way, I'm sure Kumajirard will love it." He said as he smiled playfully. Gilbert paused.

"I thought his name was Kumajirou." He questioned, Matthew looked at him as if he had no idea what he was talking about.

Matthew held the bear to his chest. Giving it a tight squeeze. Okay. Maybe this wasn't so bad. 

**

At the end of the night, it was dark and the fireworks were shooting up through the sky. Matthew and Gilbert sat on the ferris wheel. The fire works shot out in front of them, filling the sky with a red, then blue, then green flashes of light. Matthew watched in awe. 

Gilbert kept glancing back at Matthew. He was thankful for the cover of the dark and the distraction of the fireworks to hide the blush off his face. He shouldn't be blushing. There was nothing to blush about. Nothing was going to happen between them. He was a bet, nothing more.

Who was he kidding? He was so much more. He wasn't just an object. He was an actual person, with actual person feelings! His nose crinkled when he laughed and he gritted his teeth when he was annoyed or angry. He had the most comforting presence Gilbert had ever felt from someone. His hand was soft and gentle. He was thin, but lean. He had muscles from playing hockey. A secret strength behind all the gentleness. He loved hockey. He perked up just at the mention of it. Gilbert loved all these little expressions about him. Like every detail of him was crafted and formed to be human. He was so natural, so down to earth. 

He wanted to spend more time with him. He wanted to keep what they had.  
He could keep pushing the bet to the back of his mind and forget it was happening, but what good would that do? Matthew must've liked him back. He had to. There was so much between the two that he'd have to be blind to not see it. They were both too terrified to do anything about it.

Gilbert watched the reflection of the fireworks in Matthew's eyes. He smiled, the polar bear still clutched to his chest. He was wearing the necklace Gilbert had given to him. In fact, Gilbert had never seen him take it off. 

Matthew caught him staring and smiled at him. "Isn't this cool? I've never seen fireworks this close up." He commented. Gilbert leaned in closer.

"Yeah. It is." He replied, not even looking at the fireworks. Matthew turned his attention to Gilbert. Matthews lips looked so soft? Did all lips look that soft? Fuck he wanted to kiss him so badly. It would be so easy. He could just take his chin and press his mouth against his. 

Matthew's mouth gapped open slightly, he looked at Gilbert, leaning in closer. Matthew wanted it. Gilbert knew Matthew wanted it. They were so close, Gilbert could feel his breath against him. He wanted him. So fucking badly. He brought a hand to Matthew's face.

No. 

He retracted his hand and pulled away. Matthew looked at him, surprised. He couldn't. Gilbert wasn't gentle. He didn't have what it took treat him properly. Matthew deserved better. Hell, the only reason they even talked was because Gilbert was fucking around with his feelings. Gilbert didn't trust himself. He'd mess this up. He didn't want to do that to Matthew. Or maybe it was because he didn't want to do that to himself.

"We should come again tomorrow, I still wanna see you lose your shit riding the death tower." He said in the driest, most fake voice he could muster up. The hurt was so evident. Matthew thought he'd done something wrong. He looked down awkwardly.

"Yeah." He muttered in response. Gilbert knew he messed up. Whatever. It was better to lose him now than when he was in love with him. 

The Ferris wheel lowered to the ground. Matthew couldn't hide his disappointment as he watched the ground come closer and closer. 

This had to end.

He had to stop.


	11. Chapter 11

Matthew stood in front of the mirror as he brushed his teeth. He spit in the sink and ran the water. He wiped his mouth once he finished. Nothing but the minty aftertaste remained. His phone buzzed on the sink next to him. He glanced at the caller ID and sighed. He shouldn't have expected any different. 

"Hey Gil. What's up?" He replied as he placed his phone against his ear. He used his other hands to rummage through the bathroom cupboard. He was looking for his hair straightener that he bought for that damn curl of his. 

"Mattie! Guess what day it is? Go on. Guess?" The Prussian sounded excited over the phone, almost like a school girl calling their friend. 

"Ummm..." Matthew pondered his head for any possible idea of what he was talking about. Until he got distracted looking for the straightener and lost his train of thought. "I dunno." 

"Today, is the day you get your drink on" He said over the phone. "Well, I mean also me but mostly you" 

"What do you mean by that?" He questioned. 

"I'm taking you out drinking!" 

Matthew grimaced. 

"Oh. Yay." he said flatly. Gilbert frowned over the phone. 

"Jeez. No need to sound so excited." Gilbert huffed.

"Gilbert we have a world meeting tomorrow. Why do we have to do it tonight?" He questioned. 

"Because fuck you that's why. Come on. Don't be a square." 

"I'm not being a square! I don't want to be hungover at the meeting." He defended. Not like anyone was going to acknowledge him there anyway but hey, he liked to pretend.

"Mattie. Come on. Everyone else dipped on me."

"Gee, I wonder why?" 

"Don't be a smartass. I'll pick you up at ten." Gilbert stated. 

"Gilbert what about the-" Matthew spoke but Gilbert cut him off.

"Great. I'll see you then." he said quickly before hanging up. Matthew frowned and glanced at his phone with a sigh. He placed it back down on the sink counter.

Gilbert sure was a piece of work. 

**

"Did he agree?" Francis asked eagerly as he sat next to Gilbert. 

"Well. Not really but I'm making him go anyway." Gilbert crossed his arms and placed his phone back down. "This has gone on long enough. It's time to prove your ass wrong. Tonight, my friend, Matthew is mine." 

Francis raised and eyebrow. "And what then?" He asked.

"Then I win the bet and get to rub it in your face for all eternity." Gilbert replied simply.

Francis adjusted himself to face Gilbert. It was time for some real talk.

"Non. I mean what about you and Matthew?" He asked, facing him seriously.

"What about us?" 

"Would you ever want to-" Francis paused, trying to choose his wording carefully. "Would you ever want to stay with him?" He asked finally. Not liking the look on Gilbert's face.

Gilbert shifted to face Francis. "Why would I do that?" He asked. Even though he knew perfectly well why. 

"Aren't you happy around him? You sure talk about him a lot." 

"What's this all about?" Gilbert sat up. 

"Sometimes I think you forget it's a bet, and maybe it's better that way. Maybe you two can have an actual relationship. Not one founded on politics and history."

"Francis-" Gilbert spoke up but Francis raised his hand to him. 

"I'm only saying, maybe you need each other more than you think." He placed the idea in his head. 

Gilbert took a long pause. He thought about it. He thought about Francis' words. Then realization hit him.

Gilbert's face shifted to some what anger. "You set this up! Didn't you?" 

Francis sighed and nodded. "I did what I-" Gilbert cut him off.

"This whole time, you've been planing something else haven't you?! That's why you keep asking about my feelings! That's why you bet off your old colony! You planed this from the start!" Gilbert jumped to his feet, finally putting it all together.

"Gilbert calm down." Francis stood up and held his hands up. 

"Why?!"

"Well if you'd give me a chance to explain I could tell you!" Francis' rose his voice. Gilbert immediately went quiet. "Merci." 

Francis sighed and sat down, motioning for Gilbert to do the same. He complied. 

"All I want is to see all of my friends happy. I hate having to see you alone all the time and I hate having to see him alone all the time. No offence Gilbert, but you're kind of dense and you don't know when to accept help. This was the only way I could get you two to talk." 

"So you just don't care if I end up crushing him? Is that it?" Gilbert crossed his arms and frowned. Francis sighed and shook his head.

"Of course I care! I never would've let you hurt him and I know you never would've in the first place! Don't try to pretend you don't have a soft spot for him. You could've finished this bet so many times but you didn't." Francis raised he voice again slightly. Gilbert bit his lip and looked away. "I know why you haven't. It's because you're scared. You're scared of hurting him and ruining what you have. That's why you plan on doing it when you're both drunk."

"I-" Gilbert sighed. "I didn't plan on it turning out this way. I didn't think that I'd ever actually like him and I keep telling myself I don't because I know it won't work. We're opposites. People like me don't go with people like him. I'd just end up hurting him so it's better if I hurt him like this instead of dragging it on." He said truthfully. Francis placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You don't know that. I've never seen either of you as happy as I see you together." 

"What if I fuck it up? What if he finds out he was a bet? Then what?" Gilbert pushed a hand through his white hair and sighed, frustrated. 

"You have to trust yourself Gilbert. You have to trust him." 

Gilbert looked off in the direction of Francis' front window. He saw Arthur shuffling in with a bag of wine as he slipped around to the back door, clearly trying to surprise him with the wine. 

Gilbert thought about it. Arthur and Francis shouldn't have worked out. They were different. So much chance for hurt but they somehow made it work. They found a middle ground and a way to love each other. Gilbert envied that. He always had.

Maybe it could work. Maybe it didn't have to end like this. Maybe they could have a chance. 

"Well? Are you going to stay with him?" Francis asked, keeping his voice low from Arthur who had snuck into the kitchen behind them. 

Gilbert let out a short breath as he lifted his head from his hands.

"Worth a shot." 

**

Gilbert's car pulled up in front of the blonde's house. Right at the time he said he'd be. Matthew walked out wearing a black flannel shirt and the same skinny jeans which Gilbert had complimented his ass in. As for Gilbert, he wore a lose pair of black jeans and a leather vest with a dark grey hoodie underneath. 

Matthew pulled open the door and was immediately taken aback by the over whelming sent of Gilbert cologne. He slid into the front seat. 

"Little heavy on the cologne. Who are you trying to impress tonight?" Matthew asked jokingly.

"Shower substitute." He replied as he pulled away from the house. "So. Matthew. Tonight, we ride." 

Matthew swung his head back with laughter. "Right. More like you're going to get drunk beyond belief and I'll have to drag you home." 

Gilbert shook his head. "Not tonight. You need to let loose and have fun once in a while, and stop worrying about other people. Tonight is about you." 

Matthew raised his eyebrow. "Is that why you're doing this?" 

Gilbert shrugged. "Well. I mean. You do a lot for me and I figured I'd make it up to you by taking you out and helping you get totally shit faced." 

Matthew chuckled. "Aw. That's almost endearing." 

"I try." Gilbert mocked a dramatic sigh and Matthew laughed again. 

"Thanks though. I know I wasn't really willing to take your invitation at first, I appreciate you doing this for me." Matthew said genuinely. Gilbert smiled at him.

"Anytime." 

**

They were at the first bar, Matthew was leaning over the table, telling the hilarious story of how Alfred tried to push him down the stairs as kids, but he ended up missing and falling down the stairs himself. Gilbert laughed and sipped his beer. His eyes watching Matthew's mouth the whole time. Matthew was already slightly drunk. He was much more relaxed and everything was funny to him. 

"That was the best moment of my life." He said as he finished his story. "I wish I remembered why he was trying to push my down the stairs in the first place." Matthew shrugged as he took a sip. "What about you? I want embarrassing Gilbert stories." 

Gilbert laughed. "No. I don't reveal my weaknesses." 

"Aw! Come on! I told you lots of mine!"

"Every Matthew story is an embarrassing story." he teased. Matthew chuckled.

"Okay. How about this. I say something embarrassing, then you say something. Okay?" He offered. Gilbert pondered for a moment before shrugging.

"Fine. You start." he nodded over to him. 

"I once used a maple syrup bottle as a microphone and ran around the kitchen singing Take On Me. I was home alone."

Gilbert wasn't even surprised but he still spat out his beer and laughed. Only drunk Matthew would admit to that.

"Alright. I can one up you. I have a diary." He stated. Matthew looked surprised.

"Really?" 

"Yep. I have it dated back to when I was a kid. It's not so much a diary as it is an archive of diaries." 

"Oh shit, I never took you for a diary person." Matthew said. Gilbert laughed.

"I'm full of surprises." 

Gilbert ordered another round of drinks. Matthew leaned in over the table. 

"Okay. My turn." He pondered his head for a moment, before something came up. "Oh! Yeah! I'm a virgin."

He erupted into giggles. Gilbert flushed slightly at that statement. Matthew would've never admitted that had he been sober. 

"Honestly, I'm not surprised." Gilbert stated. "Plus there's nothing wrong with being a virgin." Gilbert sipped his beer. 

Matthew smiled. "I know! I almost had sex once. Carlos and I got really drunk and he tried to take my pants off."

Gilbert spat out his drink. "Oh did he now?" He said with a passive aggressive smile.

"Yeah but I stopped him. I told him I was waiting for someone special." 

Gilbert bit his lip. Their story telling continued.

**

After they'd left the bar, they took a taxi back to Matthew's. They'd have to get Gilbert's car in the morning. It was a nice night out, so they decided to sit on the steps of Matthew's house, talking.

Matthew was humming contently, swaying back and forth. "I had a really good time. Thanks Gilly!" He said cheerfully. Gilbert smiled.

"Ja, don't mention it." 

The two sat in a comfortable silence and stared up and the sky. Gilbert opened his mouth and then shut it, he opened it again. 

"Matthew I-" Gilbert turned to speak, but he was cut off as Matthew slammed his lips against his, pulling Gilbert into a sloppy, drunk kiss. Gilbert's eyes widened as Matthew pressed against him. He was not expecting that. Matthew pulled away.

"Gil! I really, really like you! I have for a long time but I've been too nervous to say anything but I really want to be with you!" he blurted out, Gilbert looked stunned. Matthew covered his mouth and hiccuped. "Oops..." 

Gilbert just stared, mouth gapped, trying to process what just happened. "Uh..." 

Matthew looked hurt. "I'm sorry. I should've know you wouldn't like me back." he pouted, looking like he was going to cry. Gilbert panicked.

"No! No no, I didn't say that. I just...that was unexpected." 

"Unexpected in a bad way?" He questioned. 

"No" Gilbert said in an uncertain voice. "Look I-" he sighed. "I like you too Mattie. I was worried at first that it might not work because I'm well, me. I thought you deserved better and you probably do but honestly, I don't think I can stop myself. I want to try this. I want to be that person for you because you're worth it to me, so if you're willing to give it a shot, maybe we could-" 

Gilbert was cut off again as Matthew reached forward and kissed him a second time. Matthew's kisses were clumsy and his mouth tasted ever so slightly of beer. This wasn't the way he pictured this going, but he wasn't complaining. 

"I want that too. I love you Gilbert." He said with a smile and a flushed face. Gilbert's heart did a slight flip. 

"I love you too." 

Matthew grabbed his hand and dragged him into the house, he pushed open the door and pulled Gilbert inside. He pushed him to the wall and planted another sloppy kiss, grinding against him. Gilbert kissed back. Matthew attempted to stifle a moan. It slipped past and sent a warm shot through Gilbert's body. 

"Gilbert. You know how I said I was waiting for someone special..." He trailed off. Gilbert knew exactly where he was going. Gilbert didn't let him finish, he slammed his mouth against his and led him over to the couch. It felt great, at least physically, something in the back of his mind was telling him to stop. 

Matthew fell backwards onto the couch and Gilbert pinned him down, kissing him. Matthew completely let Gilbert take over, letting him roam his mouth and take what was his. Gilbert let down a gentle bit on his bottom lip. Matthew gasped.

Stop. What're you doing? He's drunk. These thoughts played through Gilbert's head, but he didn't stop. He'd wanted this so badly, and Matthew wanted it too.

His hand trailed up Matthew's shirt, feeling around. He lifted it up and pulled the collar of Matthew's shirt out of the way. His neck was so clean, so unmarked. Gilbert leaned in and began to suck. Matthew blushed and let out a small moan, again sending another wave threw his body. Matthew exhaled and Gilbert was so close he could smell the alcohol on his breath.

That's right. The alcohol. Matthew didn't mean it, he didn't want this. Well, he may have wanted it then but what about the next morning? Would he want their first night to be like this? Gilbert was only buzzed but Matthew could barely walk. He couldn't take advantage of him like this. If he'd found out someone else had done that to him, oh fuck he'd make them pay. He knew he loved Matthew, but still. How did that make him any different?

He stopped, lifting his head away and sitting on his knees above Matthew. Gilbert looked away with a guilty expression. Matthew looked up at him.

"Gil? What's wrong? Why'd you stop?" He asked. 

"I can't do it. Not like this." He replied. Matthew looked confused, sitting up next to him. 

"What do you mean? Do you not want me?" He slurred out.

"No. That's not it. I do I just, I don't think you do." He looked down.

"I do. I want this."

"Matt, you're drunk. I'm not going to take advantage of you like this. Not with you." He explained firmly.

"You're not taking advantage if want it too." He muttered. 

Gilbert shook his head. "Yes. I am. You're new to this and I'm not. I can wait. Just please, I don't want to ruin this for you."

Gilbert spoke softly. It seemed like they had only just gotten their feelings out. He knew Matthew didn't want it to move that quickly. And while Gilbert wanted it more than anything, it wasn't just about what he wanted.

"Okay. Thank you Gilbert, for thinking about me." he smiled up at him, Gilbert smiled back.

"Yeah. Don't worry about it. Let's just get you to bed, we'll talk about all this feelings shit tomorrow." 

He slung Matthew's arm around his shoulder and helped him to his feet, leading him to his bed room. He helped him take his pants off so he at least wouldn't have to sleep in skinny jeans. Just as he turned to leave, Matthew called out to him.

"Stay with me?" He asked. Gilbert paused. Was that really a good idea? Considering what just happened. However, Matthew seemed like he really wanted him to stay. Gilbert sighed. 

"Okay." he replied, crawling into bed next to him. Matthew snuggled into him and Gilbert wrapped his arms around his waist, pulling him into a protective wrap. Matthew fell asleep first. Gilbert chuckled to himself as Matthew's hair brushed and tickled his nose.

"I fucking love you so much." he muttered, before closing his eyes and falling asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

When Matthew woke up, three questions lingered in his head. One, why did he feel like he'd just gotten hit by a truck? Two, didn't he have a meeting that day? Three, why was Gilbert in his bed. 

He jolted up and Gilbert snapped awake beside him. He glanced at him and rolled his eyes. 

"Jeez Matt. What's wrong?" He groaned and rubbed at his eyes. Matthew stared at him, stunned.

"Gilbert. What in the hell are you doing in my bed?" He asked sternly. He tried not to focus on the migraine forcing its way into his skull. 

"You begged me to stay with you last night." Gilbert replied. He sat up and the covers fell off his chest. He was shirtless. Matthew blushed.

"D-did we-?!" Realization started to hit him as he jumped off the bed, also noting he didn't have pants on. Gilbert looked at him for a moment before laughing.

"Come on. Have a little faith in me. You think I'd do that to you when you're drunk?" Gilbert laughed and swung his legs off the bed.

"Yes." Matthew sighed. 

"Ouch." Gilbert frowned as he went looking for his shirt. Matthew groaned and leaned his head against the wall, shielding his eyes from the light peeking in through the blinds. He closed his eyes and tried to recall the events of the night prior. He remembered Gilbert taking him out drinking and telling embarrassing stories. He remembered coming home and talking to Gilbert for a bit before...

"Gilbert." Matthew spoke. Gilbert turned to him.

"What?"

"Please tell me I didn't actually say all that to you last night?" Matthew prayed. Gilbert smirked at him.

"Pretty sure you did." He replied. Matthew groaned again.

"I am so sorry." He turned to Gilbert and brushed his hair back. "Gosh this is embarrassing. I was drunk, I didn't mean it." 

Gilbert's smirk fell. He looked away for a moment.

"You didn't mean any of it?" He asked as he found a sudden fascination with the wall. Or just anything that wasn't Matthew. Matthew could hear the hurt in Gilbert's voice. 

"I- did you want me to mean it?" He asked. Gilbert stood across the room and shrugged. Matthew's eyes widened. "Shit! No Gil I'm sorry! It's not that I didn't mean it I just said that cause I was embarrassed! I thought you were playing along last night I didn't think you actually liked me back! Crap I'm sorry!" Matthew panicked. Gilbert looked confused as he watched Matthew fret about his feelings.

"Matt calm down."

"I'm sorry." Matthew looked down at his feet. Gilbert's smile returned as he looked at him.

"It's fine. I did say we'd sort out all the feelings shit in the morning. But it's late and I owe you multiple hangover breakfasts. Also we're an hour late to that world meeting thing or whatever the fuck." 

Matthew froze again. That's right. The meeting. He groaned again and slammed his head against the wall.

"Fuck!" He cried out. Gilbert bursted out laughing. "Sorry. I should swear." 

"No. It's funny." Gilbert approached him. He grabbed him by the shoulders and led him back down to the bed. "Now you lay back down and give yourself time to mentally prepare for the shit meeting. I'll make you something."

Matthew whined and shoved his face into the pillow. Gilbert returned a few moments later with a large glass of water and a few pieces of toast. He bit down on one and sat on the bed next to him. 

"Thank you." Matthew rolled over to grab the water.

"I know. I'm a saint." Gilbert held his hand to his chest. Matthew chuckled dryly. They ate in silence for a moment before Matthew spoke up.

"So eh, about last night. I kind of didn't know what I was saying so, mind if I try again?" He asked. Gilbert glanced at him and shrugged. 

"Go for it."

"Well uh. I do actually like you. Believe it or not. I didn't think you liked me back because you're all cool and out of my league and stuff." 

"You think I'm cool?" Gilbert questioned. Matthew shrugged. "I am cool." 

"Anyway, I just sort of blurted it out last night cause I was drunk and not afraid of rejection. Which I very much am now." 

Gilbert laughed and patted his back. "Well said. It turns out that I actually like you too. I had a romantic speech and everything last night but now I'm hungover and tired so that was the best you were gonna get." He shrugged. Matthew laughed.

Nothing screamed romance like two hungover dudes sitting in bed eating toast telling each other they tolerate each other's presence. 

"So like, are we a thing now?" Matthew asked. 

"Do you want to be a thing? Cause I'll be honest I totally think we should be a thing." 

Matthew nodded. "Yeah. Good idea." 

They nodded at each other and sat in comfortable silence, both chewing on toast. 

"Oh yeah I forgot to mention we almost had sex last night but if you ever wanna continue that I'm totally down for it." 

Matthew choked on his toast. "What?! I thought you said we didn't?" 

"Almost." Gilbert nodded at him. Matthew leaned forward and his shirt drooped, revealing the hickey Gilbert has gifted him with the pervious night. He pointed at it and laughed. "Ha! There's your proof." 

Matthew looked down at his neck. "Oh my god." 

"Looks good on you." 

"It's so dark!" Matthew looked from it to Gilbert. Gilbert shrugged.

"Hey. I gotta mark my territory." He defended. Matthew frowned. 

"I hate you." 

"No you don't. You love me we established this last night." 

Matthew chucked a pillow at Gilbert. He moved to his dresser to pick out a shirt for the meeting they were already late for. If he was lucky, maybe he could slip in unnoticed. Though with captain spaz that'd be impossible. He threw on his dress shirt and buttoned it up all the way to cover his mark. 

**  
The meeting room was filled with nations from all over the world. It was held in America this year so luckily they were close. Germany stood at the head of the table, reading over documents. Matthew peered his head in though the back door. 

"They seem busy. Let's sneak in and go for those two extra chairs next to China." He whispered to Gilbert.

"No that's lame. Let's just go in." Gilbert spoke in his normal time. Matthew gasped and elbowed him.

"Shh! We can't do that they'll know we were late." 

"So? What're they gonna do about it? Give us detention?" He crossed his arms. 

"It's looks bad if we're late." 

"Matthew does it look like I give a single-" 

"Please. Can't we just sneak in quietly?" He asked with a pleading smile. Gilbert groaned.

"Ugh you're such a square. Get over it. I'm walking in." 

"Gilbert no-" 

"Too late." He slammed open the door and waltzed into the room. The whole table of Nations turned to him. He waved at them "Sup." 

Matthew stood behind him in the doorway. He smiled nervously and slipped in the room after Gilbert. Germany looked at him from the table and shook his head. Gilbert walked up to the table and pulled out the empty chair next to China. It creaked against the floor as the silent room stared at him. Arthur glanced at Matthew and nodded to an empty chair next to him that was on the opposite end of the table that Gilbert was. Matthew looked at Gilbert and nodded to Arthur, signalling he was going to sit there. 

The meeting carried out as Matthew took that time to calm himself and drain the blush from his face. The loud meeting room did a number on his headache. He tried to focus and scribble down as many notes as he could. 

"You feeling alright? You don't look great." Arthur asked from beside him.

"Yeah. Just a headache." He said with a tired smile. Arthur nodded.

"Yeah. I get those all the time. You call it headache, I call it America." He glanced over at Matthew's brother across the table. He was doodling captain America on his legal documents. 

Matthew gave up on trying to pay attention. The room was too loud and bright and everything hurt. He made eyes contact with Gilbert across the table who smirked and pulled out his phone. Presumably to text him something stupid.

'Meetings make me so horny' 

Matthew sighed as he glanced at Gilbert who was giggling. He typed another message 'Saskatchewanna bang?'

It took all of Matthew's self control not to hurl his phone across the room at the disgusting pun. What he hated even more was that he actually replied to Gilbert's text. 'Gilbert stop. I'm having Nunavut.'

He glanced across the table. Gilbert was nodding giving a slow applause.

'Irish I could'

**

"Well that was boring and stupid." Gilbert leaned back and rested his feet on Matthew's dashboard. 

"I'm ready to just go home and sleep." Matthew sighed as he turned the wheel to the left. 

"Tough shit cause we've got plans." 

"We do?"

"Yep. You're making me pancakes and we're watching bad movies." 

Matthew stared at the road before a smile grew on his face. "How would you like to learn how to make pancakes?" 

**

Matthew stood behind Gilbert and glanced over his shoulder, watching him work.

"I said crack the egg not maim it." Matthew instructed over Gilbert's shoulder. 

"Yeah well I said you make the pancakes not me." He cracked the second egg and poured it into the bowl. 

"I'm teaching you the art of the pancake." He grabbed a pinch of salt. "You'll need a pinch of this. Careful! Just a pinch. This stuff can destroy continents." 

"You play a dangerous game." Gilbert commented at Matthew added the salt.

"I know." He stepped away and went for the next ingredient. Gilbert waited for him. 

"Okay now for the flour." Matthew grabbed it from the top shelf and brought it to the counter. He lifted a measuring cup and scooped some out. He handed it to Gilbert he plunked it onto the batter. However the plucked it too fast and the flour flew up into the air and covered his shirt. Matthew pointed and laughed. Gilbert frowned and took a pinch full in his fingers and flicked it at him. They added the rest of the ingredients in. "Now we stir." 

"I'll stir. I'm a master at stirring. I studied for fifteen years at the school of stir." Gilbert lifted the spoon and power stirred the batter, getting it everywhere. 

"That may be so, but I have a Ph.D. in pancakes. I'm the professional here." 

Matthew lifted the frying pan and brought it to the stove. Gilbert backed away slightly. He didn't trust frying pans. He had bad experiences with them.

"Alright take a scoopy scoopy of batter and put it on the pan." Matthew instructs as he added a bit of butter to the pan first. 

"One scoopy scoopy coming right up." He poured a bit of batter on the pan and watched it sizzle.

"That's one nice scoopy scoopy." Matthew complimented. 

"Why thank you. I actually studied for fifteen years in the school of scoopy scoopy." 

They didn't even know what the were saying anymore. Matthew laughed and flipped the pancake. Gilbert watched in awe. He took it off when he was finished and added another scoop.

"Can I try?" Gilbert asked once it was time to flip. Matthew nodded and handed him the pan.

"Sure. You just have to hold it by the handle and flick up." He demonstrated. Gilbert nodded.

He focused on the handle, feeling it's weight in his hand. This was it. The moment he'd been waiting for. He'd trained his whole life for this. Since he was a boy, it was his dream to one day flip a pancake. That was lie. Even still, it was intense. He flicked upwards, the pancakes flew up into the air like a bird leaving the nest. It flipped three-sixty degrees and headed back down. However Gilbert miscalculated and instead of landing back on the pan.

Smack.

The floppy pancake slapped right down on his face.

Matthew lifted his hands and slowly clapped while laughing. 

Would Gilbert ever truly understand the art of the pancake? 

**  
Matthew curled up on the couch, reading his book as Gilbert sat on the floor and went through his disk pile.

"Lame. Lame. Lame. Seen it. Lame." He listed out as he tossed the DVD's onto the ground. "Why don't you have anything good?" 

"I don't use DVD's anymore." Matthew shrugged as he turned the page of his book.

"Cause you're lame." He flipped through more movies until one caught his eye. "Really? You own Sharknado?"

"It was a gift." 

Gilbert sighed. The sad thing was he knew exactly who gave it to him. He continued to flip through the movies. "What are you thinking? I'm thinking like a really bad action movie. Or maybe like a freaky clown movie." 

Matthew shrugged. "Up to you." He said as he flipped the page again. Gilbert picked out an action movie and placed it in the DVD player. He jumped up onto the couch next to Matthew and hit play. The lights were off and there was nothing but the light from the screen. Matthew put down his book and watched.

The movie started out with a scenic road shot of the heroes driving in their truck down a road. They were two brothers and some overly attractive girl. They turned on the radio to find out robots had taken over the world. Their truck got attacked by a robot. 

"Popcorn?" Matthew offered. Gilbert shoved his hand in and took some. He did the thing where he balanced it on his nose and moved it to his mouth. 

The team managed to get to safety and joined up with another team of robo-pocalypse survivors. One was a wise old man, another was a teenage boy. One was a single mom and the other was robot an engineer. They built robots to fight the robots so they could have a robot battle. 

Matthew rested his head on Gilbert's shoulder and Gilbert wrapped an arm around him. Matthew was a serial cuddlier and Gilbert just liked holding something soft. 

Turns out the single mom was secretly a robot in disguise and had to fight one of the brothers, who had fallen in love with her. He tried to convince he that he could love a robot. She ran away because she couldn't accept her robotic feelings. The team got into the robots to fight. The teenage boy wouldn't get in the robot for some reason. 

"This is kind of a weird movie." Matthew commented.

"Oh yeah it's terrible." Gilbert said casually. "Terrible in a good way though." 

The battle begun. The brother's were fighting together. The kept throwing cars at the robots and there were lots of explosions. Too many explosions. Then the old man took a machine gun and took out a bunch of robots. 

Gilbert took a piece of popcorn and fed it to Matthew. Matthew's polar bear wanted in on the cuddling and planted his butt right between them.

"Hey." Gilbert greeted him. Matthew chuckled and started to pet him while they watched the movie. Gilbert snuck the bear a few pieces of popcorn when Matthew wasn't looking. 

The team fought the robots in their robots. Things were looking bleak for the heroes when suddenly, the robot mom appeared and helped fight with them. They saved the world and she ended up marrying the brother. The other brother married the girl from the beginning. Then the movie ended.

As the credits played to the sound of some rock song, Matthew turned to Gilbert.

"What an emotional roller coaster." Gilbert joked. Matthew laughed along. 

"I was really invested in the robot mom love story." He said as he stood up and stretched. Gilbert grabbed his waist and pulled him back down onto his lap. Matthew let out a slight shriek.

"Nope." Gilbert said as he pulled him to his chest. Matthew laughed.

"What are you doing?" He asked. Gilbert planted a soft kiss at the back of his neck. 

"Nothing. You're warm and you're house is too cold." He pulled him closer. "Plus I like kissing you." 

Matthew blushed slightly and laughed. "I'm not complaining." He wrapped his hand around Gilbert's, brushing it slightly with his thumb. 

Gilbert pulled him down onto the couch, arms still around his waist but now they were laying down. Matthew was pressed up against his chest, locked in by Gilbert's arm. He could feel him breathing beside him. 

"Hey. Remember that time I kept asking you if you'd shower with me?" He asked. Matthew laughed.

"Yes." He replied as he nuzzled into Gilbert.

"While now that we're dating, would you ever shower with me?" He asked. Matthew went quiet for a moment before he bursted out laughing.

"Sure you wouldn't rather have a bubble bath?" He asked. 

"Only if it had a rubber duck. I'm a simple man." He chuckled. Matthew could feel his breath on the back of his neck. "You're so soft." Gilbert said as he pulled him in tighter. 

"Thanks." Matthew said with a grin. Gilbert laughed again. His chest bounced against Matthew's back each time he laughed. He planted a kiss on top of Matthew's head. 

They didn't mean to, but they ended up falling asleep like that.


	13. Chapter 13

Matthew walked up the steps leading to the unfamiliar house. Gilbert had invited Matthew to his house for the first time. He knocked awkwardly on the door once before it flew open.

"Mattie! Come on in!" Gilbert greeted as he grabbed his boyfriend's shoulder, practically shoving him in the house. His polar bear followed behind, taking a look around the large and freakishly clean home. Matthew gapped and looked around.

"Wow. It's so, clean." He gawked. 

"I'm a lot things, but I'm not a slob." Gilbert crossed his arms. "Come on I'll give you a tour." 

Gilbert's house looked like it could've been a display in a furniture home. Everything was neatly placed and dusted. Matthew was afraid to touch anything. He always considered himself to be relatively clean until he stepped in here. Gilbert led him upstairs to his bedroom. He pushed opened the white wooden door and stepped inside. He had a double bed pushed against the wall, right beneath a modern looking window. His bedside table was almost empty with nothing but a lamp and his phone charging beside it. His dresser was right next to the door. Matthew imagined he probably had his clothes folded and colour coordinated. Matthew's were all just wadded up and shoved in his drawer. 

There was a book self across the room filled with books, each holding different dates. Matthew studied them. Gilbert stood across the room awkwardly. "Oh yeah. Those are my diaries." 

"You weren't kidding when you said they were an archive." Matthew commented. Gilbert laughed nervously.

"That's not even half of them." He sort of mumbled. He was a little embarrassed about it. Matthew found that adorable. 

Gilbert's bed comforter was a checked grey and white, matching the dark grey walls of the room. Hanging above his bed was a large Prussian flag. 

Gilbert sat on his bed and patted the space next to him. Matthew sat down, continuing to observe the room. This was the first time he'd been in someone else's room. Well, someone who wasn't Carlos or his brother. 

He noticed a music stand in the corner of the room, along with an instrument case.

"What's that?" He asked as he glanced towards it. 

"Oh. My flute." 

"You play flute?! Since when?" Matthew gawked. There was this whole side to Gilbert that he hadn't even known. He didn't think Gilbert had the patience nor the attention span to keep his house thing clean, own and archive of dairies and play a musical instrument. Then again, Gilbert never half assed his jobs. He always put in 100% no matter what he was doing. Matthew never realized Gilbert was this complex. To think his first impression of him was just some guy trying to get in his pants.

"Since I was a kid pretty much. My old man got me into it." He stood up and grabbed the case, opening it and revealing the silver instrument. 

"How come you never told me?" Matthew asked as he watched Gilbert put the instrument together. Gilbert shrugged.

"You never asked." 

Matthew glanced at the instrument. It was shinny and liked almost as if it had been polished. Gilbert held it in his hands, he glanced at Matthew.

"I wanna hear you play it." Matthew said. Even though he knew Gilbert wanted to play for him anyway. Gilbert nodded.

"Brace yourself, I'm a badass at the flute." He held this instrument to his lips. He took a deep breath before he started to play. His lips pursed as he blew across the instrument. His fingers moved along the buttons, playing different notes. His low notes sent a vibration through the room and his high notes were gentle and sweet. He managed to hit all the notes perfectly. At least, Matthew thought they were perfect, he didn't play any instruments. The song had a large range but was mostly high. Matthew hadn't heard it before, he figured it was a German song. Once Gilbert finished he clapped. 

"You're really good. I don't know why you don't tell anyone you play." Matthew said.

"It's not that I don't tell anyone, it's just more of a thing that helps me relax you know? It's the only thing that can shut my brain off." He placed the flute in Matthew's hands. Matthew handled it with care. He looked at it. Getting a closer look, there was a bit of tarnish under the buttons. It looked like it had been used. 

"I used to play it for Luddy when he was a kid, he doesn't remember it though. Now he just thinks I'm weird." He looked down at the flute in Matthew's hands with a fond smile.

"I'm sure he doesn't think you're weird. There's nothing weird about it." Matthew handed it back.

"You don't think so?"

"Course not." 

"It's not really seen as a very masculine thing to do." Gilbert shrugged and started to put the flute away. Matthew shook his head.

"There's nothing weird about it. Besides you can't be macho drink-beer-fight-people-Gilbert all the time. I like this side to you." He smiled and bumped shoulders with him lightly.

"I'm flattered." He said jokingly, but Matthew could tell he actually appreciated that. "I also play a sick ass guitar solo but I keep it down stairs." 

"Damn. I feel like I need to pick out an instrument. I had a kazoo once as a kid but I don't think that counts." Matthew laughed.

"Hey kazoos are badass. I wanna hear you play a kazoo solo." Gilbert laughed with him. 

"I'm sure it'd bless your ears." Matthew leaned in closer.

"It'd touch the hearts of thousands." Gilbert leaned in as well. Before they knew it, they were kissing again. This was the third time they'd full on kissed. It definitely was the one that meant the most. It was much softer than before. Gilbert closed his eyes and took soft breaths in between. Matthew gently cupped his cheek. Gilbert's jawline was strong and firm. Matthew couldn't understand how someone as attractive as Gilbert ended up with someone like him.

**  
Matthew stood awkwardly in Gilbert's living room as he ran upstairs to grab a few things. They were going out since Gilbert wanted to show him around the placed where he grew up. Gilbert's blonde haired brother stepped out of the kitchen, he spotted Matthew and waved awkwardly.

"Hello Ame-" He cut himself off. He struggled to remember Gilbert's boyfriend's name. He was related to France someone. 

"Matthew." He said as he stepped forward to shake his hand. Ludwig smiled politely and shook it.

"Ludwig. It's a pleasure." He introduced himself, despite the two having met serval times. Matthew was used to it. He just didn't have a very memorable impression on people. He shook his hand. His grip was firm, too firm. "You are Gilbert's partner?" 

Matthew nodded awkwardly. That was a weird way of putting it. "Eh, yeah." 

That was painfully awkward. Ludwig nodded, he observed him as if determining wether or not he was a suitable partner for his brother. 

"Gilbert's not as tough and desensitized as you may think. You seem like a nice boy and I have no reason not to trust you. Don't give me one." He said firmly. Matthew tensed and smiled uncomfortably. Something about his brother's presence was just, terrifying. He never though Gilbert's brother would play the over protective card. He gave him a warning, Matthew heeded it well. 

"Yes sir!" Matthew sputtered out. Ludwig smiled and nodded awkwardly. 

"Good. Take care of him for me." He patted him on the back before turning and taking his leave as Gilbert returned from upstairs. Matthew had never been so glad to see him. 

"Coming?" Gilbert asked. Matthew nodded in response. They were about to leave before a crash came from the kitchen. The three whipped around. They poked their heads inside and noticed the window was open. Many boxes had been stacked to reach window height. Matthew only had one suspect in mind.

Kumajiro. 

**  
It was a mystery to many as on lookers spotted a polar bear cub, accompanied by a small yellow bird, dashing down the streets. The two had teamed up to make a dash for freedom. Kumajiro was mad at Matthew because he wouldn't let him have chocolate chips in his pancakes that morning. Gilbird didn't really know what was going on. He just needed a head to sit on. 

Matthew dashed out the front door. "Kuma! Kuma where are you!?" He sprinted as he ran out. The brothers chased after him. 

"Are you sure it was your bear?" Ludwig asked. Matthew nodded.

"Yeah. He always does stuff like this. He's mad at me because I wouldn't let him have chocolate pancakes." Matthew explained as he frantically looked around.

"I'd be pissed too." Gilbert shrugged. 

"We have to find him. He could be lost and afraid!" Matthew started to worry. He thought about how horribly lonely he must've felt.

There was a scream of terror from a woman and the duo of death stepped into her coffee shop. Kumajiro grabbed a cookie off the plate and shoved it in his mouth. "Who?" Gilbird landed on the cookie and pecked at the crumbs. 

The three ran to a nearby park. They split up and Matthew looked on the play ground equipment, Ludwig searched the sand box and Gilbert asked the kids on the swings.

"Hey, have you guys seen a baby polar bear about yay big with a yellow canary on its head?" He asked. The kids looked at him stunned. He crossed his arms impatiently. "Well come on, I don't have all day!" 

One of the young boys started to cry as their mother approached and started yelling at Gilbert in German. Ludwig dug frantically through the sandbox. For some reason he'd figured the two pets had buried themselves in it. Matthew looked like he was about to cry.

"Kuma? Where are you?" He dashed around the play equipment, searching high and low. A couple kids stared at him as he crawled up the slide looking for him. He missed his footing and slipped back down, landing face first in the sand. The kids laughed at him. 

Kumajiro and Gilbird made a run for it. The left the shop and dashed down the street, the smell of pancakes filled the air from a nearby Cafe. Kumajiro was going to get those chocolate chip pancakes, with or without Matthew. 

"They don't seem to be here." Ludwig stated behind Matthew. He lifted his face from the sand. 

"Let's look down the street." He jumped to his feet and ran off to look. Gilbert and Ludwig glanced at each other before running off after him. 

The ran through the busy street, all calling out his name, except Gilbert, he was calling for his bird. They passed by the Cafe when a thought floated into Matthew's head, the pancakes. Mathew slammed open the door and dashed inside. Kumajiro had his mouth wide open over some poor girls chocolate chip pancakes. He was caught red handed.

"Kumajerry. Step away from those pancakes right now!" He said firmly. The polar bear opened its jaw wider and leaned in closer. "Young man you will listen to me! Come here now!" 

"Who?" He said quickly as he took a bit of the girls pancakes. She bursted into tears. Matthew gasped.

"Kumajimbo! I taught you better than that! Apologize!" He yelled. His polar bear dashed off the table and propelled itself out the door. He sprinted between Matthew's leg, tripping him. Matthew fell backwards but Ludwig gripped his arm and pulled him forward. He pulled him forward to hard and Matthew needed up falling on top of his chest. Gilbert lunged for the bear but completely missed, instead smacking his head against the menu sign. 

"Fuck!" He swore. Matthew dashed up to the girl and apologized. She didn't speak English and Matthew didn't speak German but he repeated sorry over and over again as he practically threw money at the mother to pay for the pancakes. Ludwig and Gilbert glanced at each other and sprinted after the bear.

"Stop!" Ludwig cried out to them. On lookers jumped and cast the two brothers and strange look.

The bear dashed up into a tree and stuck it's tongue out. The brothers stared at up them. 

"Come on Kumawhathisface! Come down to Gilly!" Gilbert held his arms out for the bear, he chucked an apple at his head. "Ow!" 

Matthew came running after them. He ran up to the tree a caught his breath. 

"Kuma-" He said as he gasped for air. "Come down, please." 

He chucked another apple at Gilbert. 

"Why'd you throw it at me?!" 

"Who?" It looked at him innocently.

"Kumajames that is not nice!" Matthew pointed his finger at him. Gilbird tweeted on his head and flew down to Gilbert. Kumajiro tried to make a run off the tree, but realized it was too far to jump. He turned to Matthew nervously. "Oh no he's stuck." 

"Hey, West give me a boost." Gilbert instructed. He climbed onto his brothers shoulders as he hoisted him up into the air. He reached up for the bear. "Come here. I'll grab you I promise." 

The bear stepped hesitantly towards him. He reached for Gilbert's hand, sniffing it with cation. He took a step closer, then jumped into his arm. Ludwig brought him back down and Matthew ran do his bear, grabbing him from Gilbert and cradling him in his arms.

"Don't you ever do that again! I was so worried. Are you okay?" He kissed his head and snuggled him. 

"Who?" 

Gilbert and Ludwig glanced at each other before they both started genuinely laughing. Matthew joined in. 

"That's one wild bear you have." Ludwig commented. Gilbert snickered and grabbed each of their arms, dragging them back.

"See, he couldn't resist my awesome charms." Gilbert said proudly. Gilbird had returned to his spot on Gilbert's head. He must've had a thing for white hair. 

Ludwig looked down at Gilbert and Matthew and smiled. They sure got up to their antics but Matthew seemed good for him. He was glad Gilbert found someone who made him happy. He could tell Gilbert was really trying with him. Matthew had earned his approval.

Though he was uncertain if Matthew's family would be as easy to convince. Matthew was the easy one. However his family finding out about Gilbert was a whole other story.


	14. Chapter 14

A few weeks had gone by since Matthew and Gilbert started dating. Those first few weeks felt like heaven, everything was going great. They were getting along and everything seemed perfect. 

Matthew laid on his bed. He adjusted his glasses and turned the page of his book. He was curled up in the blankets. His fireplace was on and the snow was just starting to fall. 

Gilbert laid in a huff next to him. Scrolling through his phone, bored. He turned back to Matthew for the fifth time, he lowered his book from his hands.

"I'm bored." He stated. Matthew shrugged. He simply pushed Gilbert's hands away and raised his book back up to reading level. He was at the good part. "Did you hear me? I said I'm-" 

"Yes Gilbert. I heard you." Matthew replied simply, his eyes scanning the words on the page. Gilbert frowned. He pouted slightly and resumed playing games on his phone. Matthew ignored the loud sound effects that he knew Gilbert had put on full volume on on purpose. After completing one level, he turned his attention back to Matthew.

"What're you reading?" He asked.

"A book." He replied.

"Yeah no shit. What book?" He asked. Matthew was slightly embarrassed. 

"Wuthering Heights." He muttered out quickly. Gilbert flashed him the 'really' look.

"Okay grandma. What's next, going to knitting club?" He asked. Matthew placed his book down and frowned.

"It's a good book." He defended. Gilbert snickered. "Hey don't laugh!" 

Gilbert snatched the book from his hands. He pushed Matthew back and held it above his head. "I have a better idea. How about you stop reading your lame book and we fuck instead." 

Matthew frowned. He reached to grab his book back, Gilbert kept him pinned. "Give it back! I'm at the best part!" He whined out. 

Gilbert looked offended. "Matthew! You're choosing this lame ass book over my awesomeness?" 

Matthew gave him a look of pity. "I'm just really into the book." 

Gilbert looked perplexed. "I can't believe you. You're such a dork." He said in a mock offended voice. Matthew reached for his book again. "Nah, you ain't getting this back." 

"Why?" Matthew asked.

"Cause you have to pay the toll first. One kiss per page, and we'll see if it escalates from there." 

Matthew frowned. He shook his head while laughing slightly. "Fine. One kiss then you have to give it back." 

"Deal." Gilbert nodded his head in agreement. He leaned down and pressed his mouth against Matthew's for a short, sweet kiss. He placed the book down on the bed next to him as he leaned in against, cupping the side of his cheek as he kissed him a second time. Matthew kissed back for a while, not pulling away until it started to get slightly heated.

"Hey. I thought it was only one kiss." He whined out with a slight laugh. Gilbert shrugged.

"I lied. I just like kissing you." He leaned in again. Matthew kissed back. While Gilbert was distracted, he opened one eye and slowly reached for the book beside him. Gilbert caught him just in time. His lowered his eyebrows in frustration as he grabbed the book with one hand a hurled it effortlessly off the bed. 

"Hey! Hardcovers are expensive." He whined out. Gilbert rolled his eyes and pushed him fully on his back, pinning him to the bed. He kissed on top of him, trying to distract him from thinking about the damn book. He'd be damned straight to hell if he was going to get cock blocked by a fucking book.

Matthew relaxed beneath him. He kissed back, starting to flush red. Gilbert found it so cute how he managed to blush so often. He pressed against Matthew, trying to elicit a moan. 

Their moment was cut off by the ringing of Matthew's phone beside them. Matthew reached to grab it before Gilbert grabbed his wrists and forced him back down.

"You are not answering that." He stated. 

"What if it's important?" Matthew tried to push him off, Gilbert held him still.

"Matthew, we are having a moment." 

"Maybe it's those contact lenses I ordered..." Matthew wondered to himself. He pushed Gilbert off, he let go willingly this time. 

"Are you fucking kidding me?" He muttered under his breath. Matthew held the phone to his cheek.

"Hello?" He answered.

Turns out his order did come in. He talked on the phone for a while. Gilbert pouted and crossed his arms like an upset child. He mimicked Matthew's high pitched voice over the phone. Matthew smacked him lightly. Eventually, he finished his call and hung up. He placed his phone on the wooden bedside table beside him. 

"Finally." Gilbert huffed out. 

"Sorry. They just called to make sure they got the address right. I should probably put Kuma to bed anyway." 

Matthew pushed his legs off the bed and moved to stand up. Gilbert gritted his teeth. He latched onto Matthew's waist and pulled him down on top of him, back on the bed.

"Nope. You're staying here." He pulled Matthew against his chest.

"Gil-" Matthew attempted to push free, Gilbert pulled him closer.

"Nope." He replied. He leaned on his back and Matthew's legs flew up in the air as his back rest in his chest.

"Gah!" Matthew shrieked. Gilbert laughed. He planted a small kiss on the back of his neck. He moved to lay sideways, moving Matthew along with him and spooned him. Matthew laughed with him. He snuggled his back into his chest. "I never knew you were a serial cuddler." 

Gilbert snickered. "I'm many things." He let go of Matthew. He sat up and leaned over him, Matthew glanced up at him. He grabbed his chin and pressed his mouth against his. "Shall we continue?" 

Matthew snickered. "I suppose we shall." He sat up and leaned in closer.

Gilbert smirked and glanced at the book on the floor. Ha, take that! 

Gilbert: 1. Book: 0.

**  
Gilbert's birthday was coming up soon and Matthew wanted to do something special. Matthew sat on his brother's couch, slamming the X button on the controller.

"What about a surprise party?" Alfred asked. Matthew shrugged.

"Maybe. He's probably planning on having a big party himself though." Matthew answered, he jerked his controller up. Alfred's character on the screen jumped and dodged his attack. "Dammit." He muttered.

"Ha!" Alfred cheered. He bit his lip and played in silence for a moment before speaking up again. "What are you gonna get him?" 

Matthew shrugged, eyes glued to the screen. "Don't know yet. I want it to be something special." Matthew smashed the buttons on his controller, frantically trying to dodge Alfred's rapid attacks. Alfred's animated character let out a final blow and Matthew character spun and fell off the screen.

"Ha ha, I win." Alfred crossed his arms and gave himself a proud look. Matthew sighed and slumped back into the couch.

"Another round?" He asked.

"You're on." Alfred replied, he hit play on the screen. 

They played for a bit, Alfred still destroying Matthew's small, cute character. "If you were me, what would you get him?" 

Alfred glanced at him from the side for a moment, before his eyes returned to the screen. He was glad his little brother still came to him for advice, that made him happy. 

"Hmm. Well right now I plan on getting him an ironic t-shirt and some bubble gum. But, if I were you...hmm...I guess I'd probably make him something."

Matthew nodded in response. Making something for him seemed like a good idea, but what would he make? He wasn't crafty or anything. What could he make that Gilbert would like? 

**

Matthew had come up with the perfect idea. He'd build Gilbert a birdhouse. It could be for Gilbird too! He figured he'd love it, since he loved the socks he made for him so much. Only thing was,  
Matthew wasn't exactly a builder.

He stared and the hunks of wood on the table in front of them. He lifted them up and looked and the wonky pieces. How exactly was he going to do this? He looked at the tutorial page again, trying to figure it out. He didn't even have all the supplies he needed, so that was a start. He headed to the hardware store to pick up some screws and blots he'd be needing.

He reached on the top shelf for a plank of wood, on his way back down, he bumped into another body.

"Oh I'm sorry." He said instinctively as he turned around to face who he'd bumped.

"Oh! Matvey! It is you!" A friendly, accented voice replied. Matthew turned to face his tall, intimidatingly tall platinum blonde friend. 

"Ivan! What are you doing here?" He asked in a happy tone. 

"Just picking up a few things for um..." He stopped. "Just for some stuff. Why are you here?" 

"Trying to get some stuff I need to build a birdhouse. It's for Prussia, I wanted to make him something for his birthday. I don't really know what I'm doing though." Matthew laughed awkwardly. It had been a while since he talked to Ivan. The two were friendly with each other since in terms of weather, they had a lot in common. In terms of everything else, they were fairly different. They were also hockey buddies. 

"Oh, Matvey is building something.  
I am actually very good at building, I do lots of construction. Would you like some help?" He asked. Matthew blushed awkwardly.

"Oh no. I really couldn't trouble you with that. It's fine I'm sure I'll uh...figure it out somehow." He glanced at his list of supplies, not knowing what 80% of the items actually were. Ivan chuckled.

"Do not worry. I will help." He took the list from Matthew's hand, scanning over the writing.

Matthew smiled at him. "Thank you so much! You're a real life saver!" He thanked him. Ivan laughed. 

"It is not a problem. I am happy to help Matvey." He took the wood from Matthew's hands and put it back, grabbing a different one of appropriate size. Matthew felt stupid, but Ivan didn't seem to think so. He seemed to genuinely want to help him, so he accepted. 

And thus, they began their endeavours in birdhouse building. 

**  
Gilbert opened the door to Matthew's house. He had planned to spend the night at Matthew's. He didn't call or text ahead of time because how often did Matthew leave the house? He never did anything unless Gilbert dragged him out so he assumed he'd be home. 

He arrived to an empty home. He frowned and slumped on Matthew's couch. It was late and Matthew didn't go out often. Whatever. Maybe he finally decided to get a life. 

Gilbert put his feet up and turned on Matthew's tv. He channel surfed for a while before deciding to give Matthew a text.

'Yo. I'm at ur house. Where u at?' 

He sent. Matthew wouldn't care that he was over. 

About an hour had past and Gilbert hadn't received a reply. Which was weird since Matthew was very adamant about answering his phone. It was only about midnight. Maybe Alfred took him out? 

'When r u coming home?' He sent. He placed his phone on the couch beside him. He put on some Canadian sit com which was painfully awful. He checked his phone again, still no reply. He sighed. 'Bitch answer your phone' 

Still no reply. He tried calling, no answer. He wasn't worried, just confused. It was about one now. Gilbert guessed he'd gone out drinking with someone. He laid down on the couch and played games on his phone. Then he puttered around Matthew's house for a bit, looking at all the weird things he had in his house. Most of which he assumed were stupid gifts from Alfred. 

Gilbert checked his phone every few minutes. He was bored of waiting for Matthew. By the time it hit two, Gilbert was starting to get anxious. 'Where are you?' He sat for a minute before groaning in frustration. 'Matt answer your phone' 

Gilbert wasn't an anxious person, unless he was left alone with his thoughts. A number of ideas about what could've happened to Matthew floated into his head. He could've gone out drinking and gotten into trouble. Someone could've drugged him though that was unlikely. He could've gotten drunk and stuck somewhere. Or maybe he'd gotten into an accident. Or he could be ignoring Gilbert's texts. He could be with someone else.

Gilbert tried to shove there thoughts back into his head. All of them were unlikely. Matthew was always careful and he trusted him. 

That still didn't make him less worried when the clock hit three. He pulled up his conversation with Alfred instead. 'Hey dickweed. Is your dumbass of a brother with you? He hasn't come home or answered me.' 

Gilbert got a reply almost instantly. 'No. I haven't seen him since this morning. He okay?' 

Gilbert bit his lip. 'I don't know. It'd be nice if I could get a fucking reply.  
Did he say anything about having plans?' 

'No' Alfred replied. 

Gilbert frowned. Three thirty. Most bars closed at three thirty. Where the hell could he be? He tried to call again. He heard a faint ringing from Matthew's room. It hit him. Matthew had left his phone at home. Gilbert ran upstairs to see the proof. Matthew's phone was on his table. It was blowing up with texts from him and now Alfred. Gilbert was just about to grab his keys and go looking for him when the front door opened, followed by foot steps walking inside. Gilbert ran down the stairs. Matthew was standing the the doorway, as well as Ivan. Matthew looked at Gilbert, shocked.

"Oh, Gil! Um hi, I didn't know you were here." He smiled and waved awkwardly. Gilbert looked livid. His mouth formed a tight line as he glanced between Matthew and Ivan.

"Where the fuck have you been?! And what the fuck is he doing here?!" He pointed at Ivan. Ivan frowned. 

"I was helping him with a project. We ran into some trouble on the road." He replied, crossing his arms. Gilbert's eyes darted back to Matthew.

"A 'project'? Really? You think I'm gonna fall for that bullshit!" He yelled.  
Matthew started to get concerned. He stepped over to Gilbert.

"Don't get the wrong idea. That's what we were doing. Here look." Matthew held out a bag of hardware supplies. "I accidentally locked my keys in the car so Ivan was giving me a ride home. I meant to come home earlier but I'd forgotten by phone. Ivan doesn't have one and the car broke down on the highway so we had to wait for someone to come by. I swear that's the truth." Matthew looked at him with an honest expression. Gilbert crossed his arms. 

He walked up to Matthew and gripped his shoulders. Matthew looked uncomfortable. He scanned his face and body, almost as if he was looking for injuries or any kind of proof that Ivan touched him. He didn't find any. He stepped in front of Matthew and turned to Ivan. "Get out."

"What? Gilbert it's my house!" Matthew defended.

"Shut up." Gilbert shot him a warning glance.

"Gilbert!" Matthew yelled.

"No. It is fine. I will let you two talk about things. I will leave." Ivan stepped out of the house, he waved at Matthew.

"You don't have to-" Matthew spoke, Ivan cut him off.

"Do not worry. I understand. I will see you tomorrow and we can continue your project." He waved Gilbert glared at him, he gave a slight glare back before closing the door. 

Matthew whipped around to face Gilbert. "What the hell! That was so uncalled for!" 

"Uncalled for! Do you know who he is?! You're gonna tell me everything he did to you right now!" He yelled.

"He didn't do anything!" Matthew yelled back. "He was helping me!" 

Gilbert glowered at him. "Do you have any idea how much you freaked me out? You can't just go off the grid like that! Especially with a guy like him!" 

"It's wasn't my fault. The car broke down. I didn't mean to scare you." Matthew calmed his voice. He hated yelling and even more hated being yelled at. Gilbert's angry expression relaxed slightly.

"You better fucking swear to me you're telling the truth." He pointed at him. Matthew held up his hands.

"I swear I am." Matthew promised. Gilbert sighed and relaxed his body.

"Alright. Fine. I believe you." He said. "I trust you." 

Matthew smiled at him. "Thank you for trusting me. I promise nothing happened." 

Gilbert sighed and nodded. He stepped forward and pulled Matthew into a hug. Matthew hugged back as Gilbert buried his face in the crook of his neck. "Just...stay safe okay?" 

Matthew nodded into him. "I will. I'm sorry for scaring you."

"I'm sorry for yelling at you." Gilbert replied back as they stood in each other's arms. 

"It's okay." Matthew hummed out. He rocked back and forth, Gilbert swaying with him.

While the fight was over, something still didn't sit right with Gilbert. It wasn't Matthew, it was Ivan. He didn't trust him. He never would. Ivan at one point, practically ruined his life. He'd heard things about him being a different person now, but he didn't care.

He didn't want him around Matthew.


	15. Chapter 15

Gilbert didn't like it. He didn't like the fact that the person he'd hated for so long was around Matthew. He'd gone through so much shit because of him. The thought of the same happening to Matthew scared and stressed him. He also didn't know how to talk about it with Matthew. He never really told him about his experiences before hand or any of the rough times he'd been through. He wanted to keep Matthew out of that part of his life. 

However, Gilbert kept his mouth shut. Since the argument, he felt as if he was being too controlling. He didn't want to be like that. He didn't want to ruin his relationship that had been going so well. He liked Matthew, he really did.

Matthew spent time with Ivan in the basement, putting the birdhouse together.

"Again, I'm really sorry about what Gilbert said to you last night." Matthew apologized on his behalf for probably the hundredth time that day. 

"As I said before. It's okay." Ivan assured him. He grabbed the drill and placed a few bolts in a plank of wood.

"It's not though. I shouldn't have let him talk to you like that. You spent all day yesterday helping me. It's the least I should've done." Matthew shrugged awkwardly.

"We well...he doesn't like me very much. I've known that for a while. It really isn't your fault." He stated. "I wish we could get along. I've tried to patch up the mistakes I made but, I guess the damage is done." 

Matthew gave Ivan a sympathetic look. "Hey, maybe once he finds out you helped me make this, he'd be willing to see things a different way." Matthew suggested with a smile. Ivan gave him a soft smile.

"I appreciate your optimism. You're a good person Matvey." He smiled down at him. Matthew blushed awkwardly.

"Uh...thanks I guess." He laughed slightly. Ivan laughed along. Matthew lifted the drill and placed it to the wood without looking, almost drilling his hand. Ivan grabbed his hand quickly, stoping him.

"Wait!" He shouted. Matthew gave him a concerned look. When Ivan realized he'd taken his hand, he let go immediately. "I'm sorry. You were about to hurt your hand." 

Matthew looked at the drill. "Oops. Sorry. I'm such a clutz." Matthew whined out.

"Oh! Do not feel bad! Just be careful, that is all." He informed him. Matthew smiled awkwardly.

"Thanks. I'm glad to have you around, you know, so I don't drill my hand open. I can't image that be very fun." He said. Ivan laughed.

"I agree. Sounds pretty painful." He added in. 

"So..." Matthew looked at the drill in his hand. "How uh...how exactly do I drill this?" 

Ivan chuckled softly. He stepped up behind him and held the back of his hand in his, guiding his hands on where to drill. Matthew tensed slightly. Ivan was unusually close. He knew it was a culture thing, yet it still make him feel odd. Ivan's chest was pressed against his back. Once he showed Matthew how, he let go and stepped away. Matthew smiled and nodded at him awkwardly.

Ivan was just a touchy person, there was nothing to it. 

**  
Later that night, Matthew sat at his desk, scribbling down notes for the meeting he had with his brother and his officials. It wasn't for a while but he liked to be prepared. 

Gilbert sauntered into the room. He peered at Matthew's paper over his shoulder.

"Whatcha doing?" He asked. His voice sounded anxious. Matthew noticed right away.

"Uh, just getting some notes ready for this meeting." He spun his chair around to face him. "Everything okay?" 

Gilbert bit his lip. He sat on Matthew's bed and looks awkwardly around the room. 

"I uh, I actually kind of wanted to talk to you about something." Gilbert stated. Matthew placed his pencil down.

"What's wrong?" 

"I um, I fucked up. I feel really bad about they way I acted last night." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I had no right to kick someone out of your house. I also shouldn't have pestered you about coming home late. You're an adult, you can make your own choices. I'm sorry." 

Matthew nodded and smiled. He was angry at Gilbert, but after they made up, Matthew just sort of brushed it off. He didn't relapse how much he wanted a formal apology until he got one. "I appreciate the apology." 

"Get used to it, cause I'm a very flawed guy." Gilbert cracked a joke and snapped his fingers into finger guns. When Matthew didn't laugh, he looked around awkwardly.

"You're not flawed. People argue, it's fine. Don't worry yourself over it." Matthew stated. Gilbert smiled back awkwardly.

"I'm not good at apologizing. You should teach me. You're Canadian, you're good at it." He joked. Matthew laughed slightly. 

"Well if you really want to make it up to me, you can always make me pancakes." Matthew hinted with a smile. 

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind. I'll even use the scoopy scoopy technique you taught me." Gilbert said. Matthew laughed. 

"You better use the scoopy scoopy. It's the only way." He smiled at him. Gilbert gave him a fond look. He stepped over to Matthew's desk. Matthew looked up at him as Gilbert bent down and planted a soft kiss on Matthew's cheek.

"What did I ever do to deserve you? Seriously, you're way out of my league." He stated with a laugh.

"Wow, thanks actually a huge compliment coming from you. Aren't you the best of the best?" Matthew asked.

"I am the best of the best. But you're better than the best." He stated. He paused, his faced looked unsure. "That was too cheesy wasn't it?" 

Matthew bursted out laughing. "You tried, I appreciate the effort. C+, see me after class." 

Gilbert snickered. "Yes sir." He said as he rolled his eyes slightly. Matthew laughed and stood up, meeting his mouth with his for a kiss. Gilbert was pleasantly surprised, he kissed back. 

"I'm joking. I appreciate it a lot. Though I'm pretty sure it's you who's out of my league." Matthew said. Gilbert shrugged.

"Well, I mean, I am pretty great." He joked. Matthew snickered. 

"Yeah. You are." He kissed him quickly again. "So, I was promised pancakes. Shall we?" He motioned towards the door. Gilbert smiled and nodded at him. 

"We shall. Come on, let's go do some scoopy scoopy, whatever the hell that means." 

**  
Gilbert sat on the couch in Matthew's living room, flipping through the channels. Ivan was leaving for the night after he and Matthew finished working. Gilbert's eyes subtly travelled over to the pair.

"Thanks again for your help. Tomorrow same time?" Matthew asked as he glanced up at him. It wasn't often Matthew had to look up to see someone. He was pretty tall.

"I will be here." Ivan nodded. He gave Matthew a fond look that Gilbert definitely didn't miss. Ivan opened his arms for a hug, Gilbert tensed. 

The hug lingered way too long too be friendly, and Ivan's hands were far too low for Gilbert's liking. Gilbert kept his mouth shut. He diverted his eyes away and flipped through the channels. 

"See you tomorrow." Matthew waved, Ivan waved back before leaving. 

Once he was gone, Matthew trotted over towards the couch and plunked down next to Gilbert, he lifted up a blanket and burrowed himself underneath it. 

"Whatcha watching?" He asked in a perky tone.

"Russia likes you." 

"What?" 

"Come on. You have to have noticed it." Gilbert glanced at him. 

"Is it because we hugged? Don't worry it's just a culture thing." Matthew shrugged, pulling the blanket closer to him. 

"Bullshit it's a culture thing." Gilbert mumbled. A small smirk grew on Matthew's face.

"Gilbert, are you jealous?" He asked with a semi-pleased grin. Gilbert frowned.

"No. Shut up." Gilbert crossed his arms. Matthew snickered.

"Aw, don't worry Gilly, I don't plan on leaving you for Ivan." He said. Gilbert chucked a pillow at his head.

"I'm not worried, I'm just stating a fact. I mean come on, you'd have to be blind not to see it. Plus I totally saw him check out your ass. Which is, admittedly, a very nice ass." He nodded towards Matthew.

"I'm flattered." Matthew smiled. "But in all seriousness, there's nothing between Ivan and I. He's just a friends, a promise." 

Gilbert pressed his lips together. He exhaled slightly and nodded.

"If you say so." 

**

It was the night before Gilbert's birthday. Matthew and Ivan were finishing up with the birdhouse, the only thing left to do was paint. Gilbert was on his way to Matthew's, he planned on dropping by for the night again. 

Matthew and Ivan laughed together as they finished painting the small, wooden house. 

"Ouh, I can't wait for him to see this!" Matthew squealed in excitement. "He's gonna love it! I know he is!" 

Ivan laughed. "You sure are enthusiastic about this." 

"I've been excited to give this to him since we started. Now I've only gotta wait one more day." Matthew lifted his paint brush and worked on the tiny roof. 

"It looks very homemade. He will like it." Ivan added in. He worked on the small door. 

"Thanks so much for your help. I really can't thank you enough. I owe you a bunch for this." Matthew said.

"You don't owe me anything. I'm glad I got to help. This was fun. I wish we could hangout more." He said with a slightly sad tone. "Prussia probably would not like that though." 

Matthew turned to him. "He'll come around. Besides, he doesn't pick my friends for me. I do. I'd love to hangout more."

Ivan smiled at him. He pointed to his cheek. "You have paint on your face."

Matthew rubbed at it, completely missing the spot. "Oops." He said. Ivan laughed. 

Gilbert drove down the streets, only a few blocks away from Matthew's house. He was in a significantly better mood now that the two had made up completely.

Ivan took his hand and wiped the paint of his face. He gave Matthew a tender smile. Matthew blushed awkwardly at the sudden touching. He nodded and Ivan and mouthed thanks, before turning around to continue with the painting. Something about what Gilbert had said the night before stuck in his mind. Did Ivan like him? 

He turned around to finish as well, glancing at Matthew every now and then. Matthew caught his stare, he smiled at him. Ivan smiled softly back. "It's nice to have a friend. I really like you Matvey." 

Matthew glanced at him. "I like you too. It's nice to have a hockey buddy." He finished with the paint. The birdhouse was finished. Matthew stood proudly in front of the finished product. "Look at it! I'm so excited!" 

"It looks very nice." Ivan said in a perky tone. Matthew was jumping on his toes.

"He's gonna love it!" 

Gilbert pulled his car up into Matthew's driveway. He hopped out. He stretched his back and shoved his keys in his pocket, making his way up to the front door.

"Yes, he will." Ivan agreed. His eyes however, weren't fixed on the birdhouse, they were fixed on Matthew. Matthew caught his strange look.

"Is...everything okay?" He asked. Ivan shook his head.

"No." He replied simply. "No it's not." 

Matthew gave him a sad look. "What's wrong? You can tell me." 

Gilbert opened the front door to the house. "Mattie! It's me!" He called out through the house, Matthew didn't hear him from downstairs. Gilbert went looking to find him, figuring he might've been in the shower or reading in his room or something. He heard voices coming from his basement floor. Did Matthew have friends over? 

"I'm sorry." Ivan stated as he stepped closer. Matthew's stomach fell slightly. He had a bad feeling about this.

"For what?" Matthew asked as he looked up at him. His voiced sounded nervous. Ivan sighed. 

"For this." 

Ivan grabbed Matthew chin. He leaned in and pressed his mouth against his, for a moment, not afraid of consequences. Matthew's eyes widened. He was frozen with shock. He didn't know what to do. His eyes travelled do the door as he noticed a shadow moving down the stairs. His stomach sunk with dread as he spotted someone standing in the doorway of the basement.

Gilbert stood right in front of the basement stairs, mouth gapped slightly. 

"Gilbert!" Matthew spurted out as he pushed away from Ivan. Ivan whipped around, also shocked. Gilbert just stared. He closed his mouth, it formed into a tight line. He walked over to the two. 

"I knew it." He stated. "I fucking knew it!" 

"Gilbert it's not what you think!" Matthew panicked slightly, Gilbert crossed his arms. 

"No. You don't have to explain it to me. I get it. You're cheating on me with the guy that literally destroyed my fucking life!" He stated in an angry tone. Matthew's face was ridden with guilt and panic. It only made Gilbert believe the fake situation more. 

"I wasn't cheating!" Matthew shouted. His eyes looked pitiful. He looked terrified. "You know I'm not like that." 

"Really? Then want to explain to me what the hell I just walked in on! I trusted you! I actually thought you were different." 

Gilbert stood in front of Matthew, his arms crossed. He was seething. His face was a mixture of hurt and anger, so much anger. Matthew looked like he was trying not to cry. Ivan stood back in shock.

"I- I didn't- he just..." Matthew stuttered, his lip quivered slightly. "You came at a bad time." 

Gilbert's mouth gapped open. "A bad time?! How long have you been doing this behind my back!?" 

"I haven't been! I wasn't cheating on you! Ivan he-" Matthew cut himself off, he glanced behind him at Ivan. What would Gilbert do to him if he ratted him out? He didn't want this to get violent. Would Gilbert actually do something like that?

"I kissed him." Ivan clarified. "It was all me, he didn't do it back." 

Gilbert glared at him. He'd never felt so betrayed. This whole time, did Matthew ever even care about him at all?

"Don't make up excuses for him. It's sweet but I'm not stupid." He said in a bitter tone. "Have fun with your new boyfriend." 

Gilbert spat out as he whipped around. His words were cold. Matthew latched onto his arm.

"Gilbert please! He's telling the truth! I- I would never do something like this!" 

"Clearly you would." He kept a his gaze focused on the wall. 

"No-" Matthew spoke, Gilbert cut him off. He spun around 

"You wanna know something Matthew? I don't care. Fine. Go run along into your sunset with him. Live happily ever fucking after. I don't care. In fact, I never did." Gilbert said in a cold, bitter tone. He was so hurt, so upset that Matthew went behind his back. A sick part of him wanted to make Matthew hurt back. His mind was screaming at him to stop, but his mouth kept moving. Matthew stared stunned in front of him.

"What?" He semi mumbled out. Gilbert let out a shaky breath. 

"You were a bet. A stupid bet that Francis and I made up to prove that I could get anyone I wanted. I never talked to you because I liked you. It was all just one huge joke." Gilbert spat out. His words were like ice. He regretted them the second they came out of his mouth.

Matthew was stunned. He simply stared at him. His face went through an arrangement of emotions. Gilbert didn't mean to say that. He was so mad. He didn't know why the words came out when he definitely didn't tell them to. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it. Gilbert froze. "Wait, I-" 

"I was a bet?" Matthew asked in disbelief.

"I didn't mean to say that..." 

"I was a bet?!" Matthew yelled this time, louder than Gilbert had ever heard him yell before. 

"Matt-" 

"No. Just stop. I didn't kiss Ivan. I wouldn't have done that. You want to know what we were doing? We were building a birdhouse for you!" Matthew stepped aside and showed his finished project on the table. A small, slightly flimsy birdhouse rested on the table. It was painted black and white. The wood was detailed to look like a look cabin, it had Gilbert's named carved in the front. Gilbert froze. "It was for your birthday. I- I wanted to do something special."

Matthew was starting to choke up. Ivan shot a glare at Gilbert. Gilbert was stuck. He stared at the birdhouse, the looked at Matthew. His cheeked were red and his eyes were puffy. He sniffled and wiped his eyes.

Why did he have to say that?! Of course Matthew wasn't cheating on him! He should've known that. He should've trusted him. Why was his whole life just one huge mistake. The one thing he thought would make him happy, he just ruined. 

"I'm so stupid! I should've known!" He cried out. Gilbert felt his heart ball up in his chest as he felt the instant and overwhelming regret.

"No, Matthew wait-" Gilbert turned around. 

"I was a bet. This whole time..." 

"I-" 

Matthew shook his head. He pushed past Gilbert, he just looked mad. He stormed up the basement stairs to the living room. Gilbert and Ivan chased after him.

"Matthew I didn't-" 

"Go away." Matthew looked at him dead in the eye. He started to choke on his own words. "I- get out."

"Matthew please. I'm so sorry..."

"I said get out." His voice was firm. "If I'm just a huge joke to you, why should you care?"

"You're not a joke to me. I-"

"Don't talk to me anymore." Matthew said in a calm yet stern voice as he shook his head. "Don't come here anymore. I trusted you. I let you into my life and you used me. So go on, congratulations you won your bet. Go celebrate." Matthew opened the front door of his house and motioned Gilbert to leave.

"Don't do this Matt. It was only at the start I promise. I love you." 

"You used me. I was a bet!" 

"I know, and I'm sorry! It's not like that anymore I swear!"

"I'm done talking about this. Get out."

"Mattie, please don't leave me." Gilbert choked out in one last desperate attempt. Matthew, the sweet and kind Matthew, showed a face of no pity. He shook his head. 

"I'm done."

Gilbert hung his head in shame and stepped out of Matthew's front door. It slammed shut behind him. He took one last glance at the house.

He'd did it. He fucked up. He knew this would happen. Matthew was too good for him, and he didn't know how to keep his fucking mouth shut. Not only did he lose the guy he loved, he lost his best friend.

He slumped over to his car, turning the key. He pulled away and drove. He didn't know where he was going, he just drove. He covered his mouth with his hand and bit his lip, swallowing.

For the first time in years, Gilbert started to cry.


	16. Chapter 16

That night was a long one for Gilbert. He sat in his room, staring at his phone screen. He'd called Matthew about a hundred times. Matthew must've blocked his number. 

That was it. He blew it. He had one shot and he went and fucked it up just like he fucked up every other relationship he tried to have. If they hadn't gotten together, maybe they still could've been friends. 

Gilbert curled up on his bed, staring at the wall. His eyes burned into them. He couldn't get rid of the burning guilt inside him. He couldn't stop thinking of just how awful he probably made Matthew feel. How could he have said something like that to him? 

**  
Matthew was upset. Normally when he was upset, he wanted to be alone. Except now he didn't want to be alone. He hated the thought of being alone. He went to the people who he felt safe and protected around. 

Matthew sat on Francis and Arthur's couch, crying. Francis sat beside him, rubbing his back. Arthur stood in the corner of the room, looking livid. 

"Mon Garçon, I am so sorry. This is my fault." Francis said as he pulled Matthew's head to his chest. He stroked his hair, Matthew always liked that when he was a kid. Matthew sniffled.

"No. It's not." He said. He really didn't believe it was Francis' fault. He was angry at first, but after Francis explained, he understood. He trusted him. 

"I never thought Gilbert would do this. I did it because I wanted you both to be happy, I thought you'd be good for each other. I'm so sorry." He held him. Matthew felt like a child again, but he liked the comfort. 

Arthur's arms were crossed. He was reasonably angry with Francis, he gave him the 'We'll talk about this later' look. He was angry that this whole thing was a secret to him. However he was even more angry that his young ex-colony got his heart crushed. 

Arthur sighed, he heard the tea pot whistle from the kitchen. He retrieved it and brought it to the coffee table. He took a seat next to Matthew, who removed his face from Francis' chest.

"It's alright lad. Go ahead and cry. You'll move on. I know it feels hard now but you'll learn that some people aren't worth your tears." He poured him a cup, handing it to him. Matthew sniffled and took the cup, taking a sip of the hot liquid.

Francis had his arm around Matthew as he sipped his tea. "You're a wonderful person Matthew. Any person would be lucky to have you. I'm sure Gilbert does love you. Sometimes people say things they don't mean to say when they're upset. He had no right to lash out like that, however, I think he did feel something." 

"It doesn't matter. What he did was unacceptable. A relationship needs to be built on trust. Obviously Prussia didn't have that. He's not worth your time." Arthur corrected. Francis pressed his lips together and shrugged.

"I- It's not that he lashed out at me. It's the fact that I thought for once, someone actually cared about me. I kept wondering how I got someone so..." Matthew struggled to think of a word. "...someone like him to end up with me." He finished. 

"Matthew. We care about you." Arthur said. Matthew shook his head.

"I know, I know. It's just- Gilbert was different." He gulped. His eyes were puffy and red. "-and I just feel so stupid and naive to think that anything was ever actually there." 

A few more tears came down. Francis gave him a sad look and began rubbing his back again. 

"Matthieu..." He planted a kiss on his head. "I will talk to Gilbert about this." 

"Don't." Matthew said quickly. "Please, I don't want this to ruin your friendship." 

Francis shook his head. "Matthieu, your feelings are very important to me." He cupped his cheek. "You, are very important to me. I want to help you sort this out. D'accord?"

Matthew sniffled and nodded. "Oui." 

Francis smiled and pulled him into a hug. Arthur patted his back.

"You'll be alright Matthew. You'll be alright." 

**  
Alfred stood outside Gilbert's house. He took a few pebbles off the ground and hurled them at his window, trying to get his attention. 

Gilbert opened his window and poked his head outside, nearly getting hit by one of Alfred's rocks.

"The hell are you doing here?" He asked from the window.

"Get your ass down here Gaybert, we need to talk." Alfred said, dropping the rest of the rocks on the ground.

"I'm not in the mood. Go home." Gilbert turned to leave. 

"Don't make me come up there." Alfred warned.

"What do you want?" Gilbert asked in a frustrated groan.

"To talk to your sulking ass. Come down here." Alfred crossed his arms. "Come on man." 

Gilbert groaned and slammed his window shut. He threw on a sweater and made his way down the stairs and out the front door. He met up with Alfred at the side of the house.

"What?" He crossed his arms and waited impatiently. Alfred turned to him. He lifted his hand to Gilbert's eye level.

Thwack! 

Gilbert clutched his nose after he heard a satisfying crack. 

"What the fuck?!" Gilbert cried out after Alfred punched him.

"Sorry. Obligation as an older brother. I'm sure you get it. Anyway, dude, you're a mess, jeez..." Alfred commented as he took in the appearance of his friend.

"You punched me!" 

"Yeah, you kinda deserved it. Anyway no need to worry. I, the hero, am here to save your relationship." Alfred proclaimed.

"What?" Gilbert spat out dryly.

"Look dude, I've never seen Mattie as happy as I've seen him with you, breaking up with him would crush him. That's why I want to help. Plus you're my friend." Alfred stated.

"Matthew's done with me. I fucked it up." Gilbert said as he glanced down at the grass.

"Yeah. That's why I'm helping you." Alfred rolled his eyes. "I have the perfect plan." 

"Yeah, you're the last person I want to take relationship advice from." 

"I know Mattie better than anyone. Trust me. It's fool proof." Alfred said. He grabbed Gilbert by the shoulders and spun him around, pushing him forward. "Now you're gonna get yourself together and fix this mess." 

Alfred pushed him through his lawn until he bumped into another figure. Francis was in front of him, looking a mixture of frantic and excitement.

"Gilbert! I've come to fix your relationship!" He exclaimed. 

"Oh my fu-"

"No time! I know what must be done!" 

Francis assisted Alfred and grabbed Gilbert's other arm, the two dragged him into the house. 

**  
Gilbert sat on a chair with his arms crossed. Francis went shifting through his wardrobe.

"Mon Dieu Gilbert. You know you can own clothes that aren't black right?" 

"It's not all black. There's a few greys in there." Gilbert commented. Francis sighed as he pulled out yet another pair of black skinny jeans.

"You need an intervention." Francis shook his head. 

Gilbert frowned and rolled his eyes. Alfred was sitting on his bed, pondering all things he could say to Matthew.

"I've got it! We'll stage Matthew's kidnapping so you'll go in and rescue him and profess your love!" Alfred said. "I know, I'm a genius." 

"That will never work. What you need is to show up at his door in a rainy night, flowers in hand. You must tell him that your life is colourless without him and pull him into a passionate kiss." Francis said with a swooning tone.

"Wait! You dress up in a mask and cape so no one knows your identity. You save Matthew from being mugged, then carry him off to safety, where you reveal you are actually a dark defender of justice! Oh, and tell him you're sorry and all that stuff too." Alfred said in excitement.

"That's so impractical. You need to send him an anonymous text telling him to meet you and the most expensive, high class restaurant in town, where you surprise him with a candle lit dinner." He said. "That'd be so romantic." 

"Yeah. No thanks." Gilbert replied as he rolled his eyes. "I was just gonna, I dunno, like show up at his house and say I'm sorry." 

"You need something more than that." Francis said with a frown.

"I'm not good at apologizing. If I do something like that it's just gonna seem fake. Also all of your ideas are fucking terrible."

"Fine then, you show up at his house. Then what do you say?" Francis asked.

"Sorry." Gilbert replied.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"That's it?" Francis asked.

"Yeah." Gilbert replied dryly. Francis and Alfred gave each other a knowing look. 

"Okay dude, we're gonna have to change that." 

**  
Matthew slumped on his couch, eating ice cream out of the tub. He realized how sad this must've looked. Did he care? No. It was maple walnut ice cream too, one of his favourites.

Kumajiro sat up against Matthew, leaning against him. He seemed confused as to where Gilbert had gone. Matt grabbed a spoon for him and gave him a few spoons of ice cream as he watched a terrible action movie.

"I have had it with these mother fucking snakes, on this mother fucking plane!" The tv blared out. Matthew stared straight faced and shoved his face full of more ice cream. At least he was able to get some sick enjoyment out of whatever this movie even was. 

"I'm a mess." He muttered to himself. He patted his bears head as he continued to watch. 

There was a ping from his phone, Matthew had received at text from a familiar number. He glanced at it.

'Bro. I'm coming over and we're getting food.' The text from Alfred lit up his screen. Matthew glanced at the ice cream in his hands. He'd already kind of eaten if that counted. Plus he was kind of busy wallowing in self pity. Should he go? 'I'll buy' 

Well. That answers that. Matthew quickly sent his reply and got himself ready. 

Alfred pulled up in front of his house in his truck. Matthew hopped into the passengers side. Alfred was looking at him very intently. Matthew raised an eyebrow.

"Something wrong?" He asked as he buckled himself in. Alfred tried to cover up his smile.

"Nope." He replied. He drove away from his house the a near by restaurant. Matthew was surprised it wasn't a burger joint but hey, even Alfred had to have taste sometimes. 

They went into the restaurant and sat at a small table for two. Both boys ordered milkshakes and fries. 

"So...tell me about your...problems." Alfred said between handfuls of French fries. Matthew slurped down him milkshake. Matthew shrugged.

"Not much to tell you that you don't already know. Everything just kind of sucks." 

"Milkshakes make everything better." Alfred stated. Matthew laughed.

"Yeah they kind of- Oh my god are you done already?!" 

Alfred blinked twice as Matthew glanced down at his empty milkshake. A smirk grew on his face.

"Milkshake contest?" Alfred asked. Matthew lowered his eyes.

"You're on." 

After about three or four milkshakes and some severe stomach aches, the boys called it quits. Alfred won though now he was in physical pain. Was it worth it? Yes. Yes it was. 

"I'm feel like I'm gonna throw up." Matthew whined as he placed his head on the table, suffering from milkshake hangover. 

Alfred doubled over. "All great things come at a price." He wheezed out. He tried to sit up. "Though now that I won, I get to make you do something." 

"I'm not becoming your personal housemaid." Matthew stated. Alfred shook his head.

"Nope."

"I'm not doing the Macarena shirtless."

"Not that either."

"I'm not-" Alfred cut him off.

"Just listen. Alright, you have to stay in this restaurant until I tell you. Okay?" He said. Matthew looked confused.

"What?" 

"Just trust me. It'll make sense later." He said, taking a sip of water.

"Is this some elaborate scheme to pelt me with water balloons?" Matthew asked. Alfred shook his head.

"No but thanks for the idea." He said. Matthew cursed under his breath.

More time passed as the brothers sat in the restaurant, talking and laughing with each other. Though Matthew didn't say it, he really appreciated Alfred taking him out and trying to cheer him up. Well he did, before he found out what happened after.

They were in the middle of recalling the time Matthew accidentally got stuck in the women's restroom when the lights in the restaurant flicked off. All except one, pointing at the stage. 

"That's weird. Are they having a show?" Matthew asked. Alfred smirked.

"Oh yeah. They're having a show alright." He said. Matthew gave him a questioning look. Alfred looked incredibly suspicious. Resembling the face of the friend who secretly told the waiter it was your birthday. 

"I don't like that look on your face." Matthew stated. As if on cue, someone stepped out onto the stage. Matthew almost dropped the water glass in his hand. He turned back to Alfred. "You can't be serious." 

Alfred shrugged. Gilbert stepped on stage. The mic was propped up and he was clearly wearing one of Francis' suits. Matthew recognized it. He waved awkwardly to the crowd.

"Hey. How are you all tonight? My names Gilbert. I uh, I've got a few things I want to say tonight, to someone special to me, who's actually, believe it or not, sitting in this very room." 

Matthew's mouth gapped open. The lights above their table snapped on. Matthew tensed as all eyes on the restaurant turned to him and Alfred. His face flushed red as a few people cooed. Alfred was snickering.

"So Matthew. I'm pretty sure both of us can mutually agree that I messed up. I should've been honest with you and I shouldn't have lashed out like that." He said. Matthew could feel the eyes burning into him. He almost couldn't focus on what Gilbert was saying, he felt sick. "I don't want us to end it like this. I can change! I can uh..." 

Gilbert glanced around the room, not really knowing what to say. Francis nodded at him from a table near by. 

"Er, my life is colourless without you." He said in the least sincere voice Matthew had ever heard. He was certain this whole thing was scripted. "I'm sorry. I'd do anything to have you back. So please, forgive me." 

The crowed cheered and clapped. Matthew was stunned. He was sweating. People were staring. He felt boxed in. He'd never felt so caged in his life. His stomach churned.

Gilbert jumped off the stage, mic in hand. He made his way to Matthew's table. Matthew shrunk in on himself.

"Gilbert I'm-" 

"Speechless. I know. It's okay. I have that effect on people." He said. He sounded like he was trying to be suave. This didn't fit him at all. 

"No. Gilbert. I'm gonna-" Matthew cut himself off. So many people were looking. Why was everyone looking?!? Matthew felt so sick. His stomach churned and tossed inside him. The three milkshakes he just downed didn't really help either. This was going to be a disaster.

"Listen. I know I messed up. But we were so awesome together. What do ya say we try again?" He held out his hand. Alfred cheered. Matthew stood up from his chair and backed away, covering his mouth. The crowed gasped.

"I-" he spoke. He couldn't even finish a sentence.

"Matthew. Are you okay?" Gilbert asked. He immediately dropped the act, turning concerned. Matthew vision went hazy around him. He felt like he was going to pass out. 

So many eyes on him. Everyone was watching and judging. They were waiting for his answer. His eyes darted from Alfred anticipating look to the crowds eager faces to Gilbert's concerned eyes. 

"I can't- I can't-" He couldn't talk. His throat seemed to close up. His mouth was dry. His stomach tossed again. It was at this point Alfred noticed something was wrong.

"Matt?" He asked in a concerned tone. Matthew gave him a pleading look. He gagged.

"I'm gonna-" 

The room erupted into gasps. Gilbert was staring, eyes widened. A few people started to laugh. Matthew looked mortified. 

He had thrown up all over the floor. 

The laughter grew louder and louder. It was all Matthew could hear. Gilbert tried to reach out for him, Matthew pushed his hand away. The tears welled up in his eyes. His lip quivered as he turned around and bolted out the restaurant door. Alfred ran after him. 

"Matthew!" Gilbert called out to him as he ran off. He watched with a sad, guilty expression. He moved to go after him, Francis grabbed his arm from behind him.

"No. Leave him be." He said. Gilbert looked down at the ground and gritted his teeth.

"I knew this was a stupid idea!" He yelled. Francis tried to calm him. 

"Gilbert calm down."

"I just gave him a panic attack!" He yelled. Francis put an arm around Gilbert and led him outside the restaurant.

"We'll fix this. I promise." He said as he escorted him out.


	17. Chapter 17

Attempt number one of operation get Matthew to take Gilbert's sorry ass back had failed. 

"Wow, I didn't think it was possible for him to be more pissed off at you." Alfred said as the three sat in his living room. Gilbert frowned. 

"Wow thanks Alfuck, just what I needed to hear." He said sarcastically. 

"Well if somebody didn't talk him into drinking three milkshakes, maybe he wouldn't have been sick." Francis said as he glanced at Alfred. Alfred crossed his arms.

"Hey. You said keep him distracted and that's what I did." He defended. 

Francis groaned and covered his face with his hand. "Alright, plan B." 

"Oh no, I'm not doing this again-" Gilbert spurted out, Francis cut him off.

"Shush. Let me think..." Francis shushed him with his hand.

"Did you just tell me to shush?" He questioned. Francis ignored him. 

Alfred pondered for a moment before a grin grew on his face. "I've got it!" 

Gilbert groaned. "Kill me now."

**  
Attempt number two went just about as well as you could expect from the impractical, sorry, 'genius' plan Alfred managed to come up with. 

Alfred had stolen Arthur's phone and texted Matthew to meet him at the mall. He did this for two reasons. One, Matthew didn't trust him anymore after the last incident so he needed a new disguise. Two, Matthew rarely said no to Arthur. His plan worked and Matthew was waiting outside the mall for Arthur to supposedly arrive. However, this is where the plan got real interesting. Instead of Arthur, a mysterious thief would approach him. 

"I'll give you twenty bucks to rob that guy." Alfred offered a man waiting outside the bus stop.

"Excuse me?" The man replied. 

"Come on, please! It's just for a prank! You've just gotta pretend, I promise no one will call the cops or anything!" 

The man blinked twice.

"No thanks." He replied.

"Wait! What if I make it a fifty?!" Alfred bargained. 

Somehow, Alfred managed to convince the man. 

Alfred, Francis and Gilbert hid behind the wall of the large building, peering over the corner. Matthew was standing out front by himself, looking down at his phone. It was dark out and not a lot of people outside. Perfect time to fake a staged mugging. Alfred nodded across the street at the stranger, who was walking fifty bucks richer. He approached Matthew.

"Hey you! Give me your wallet!" He demanded, Matthew glanced up.

"I'm sorry?" He asked, wondering if he was talking to him. The man didn't look very intimidating. He was a little on the chubby side, he looked like a college student who probably lived on ramen. The Legend Of Zelda tattoo on his wrist didn't help either. 

"I need some money!" He said in the least convincing threatening voice ever. Gilbert waited for his moment. He had very little confidence in this plan. Alfred however, looked like he was having the time of his life.

"What do you need money for?" Matthew asked. The man paused.

"Uh-" He thought for a moment. "Gas." 

Gilbert sighed and shook his head. Matthew looked slightly confused for a moment, before a smile grew on his face.

"Oh, why didn't you just say so? I'm sorry, here, let me help you out." He started to pull out his wallet. The three of them stared with confused eyes.

"Wait is he actually-" Gilbert stopped talking as Matthew pulled out and twenty. 

"No, I don't want your money. I'm mugging you!" The man said. Matthew raised an eyebrow.

"But if you're mugging me, wouldn't that mean you want my money?" He asked. 

"W- well yeah! But like, you're not supposed to just give it to me!" He shouted. "You're supposed to like, call for help or something!"

"Oh..." Matthew was stunned. "Um...help?" 

Matthew placed hands up in the air slowly, the man looked satisfied. Matthew didn't know what he was doing. He was trying to be polite at first and help the man out, even if he was being a bit rude, but at this point he had no idea what the hell he wanted. 

Alfred sighed and shook his head. He muttered under his breath. "Canadians..." 

**  
Attempt number 3 was Francis' idea. 

"You are going to buy him chocolate and expensive wine. Then leave a heart felt note about your feelings." Francis explained

"That's so stupid it's not fucking Valentine's Day." Gilbert frowned.

"Which one of us is the Nation of love?" Francis asked, Gilbert mimicked him in a high pitched voice.

Despite his bitterness, Gilbert heeded Francis' advice and bought a huge box of chocolate. He cursed himself for probably looking like some love sick idiot buying the biggest box he could find. It was coconut chocolate or whatever, he figured it would work well enough. 

Gilbert placed the box on Matthew's porch and made his way out before Matthew found it. He met up at Francis' house.

"Alright. He has the box. Hopefully your stupid plan doesn't fail me." Gilbert said. 

"Everybody loves chocolate Gilbert, there's no way it could." Francis led Gilbert inside, he poured him a glass of wine. 

Gilbert took a few big gulps of the wine. He wasn't a wine fan, but he wasn't going to say no to booze right now. He was just desperately hoping this would work. 

"I got him the biggest damn box I could find. Some coconut shit." Gilbert stated. Francis frowned.

"Coconut? Matthew's allergic to coconut." He said. Gilbert lowered his glass and shot him a disbelieving look.

"You can't be serious." 

"You didn't know that?" Francis questioned.

"Why are you telling me this now?! You don't think I may have needed to know that?!" Gilbert groaned. That was it. The universe hated him. He'd probably get stuck by lighting next time he stepped outside. He had to be cursed.

"You dated him! I assumed you knew!" Francis defended himself. 

"Shit...what the hell am I supposed to do now?" 

Francis shrugged. Gilbert died a little on the inside. The way this was going, Matthew was going to start thinking Gilbert was trying to assassinate him. 

**  
Matthew scratched at the hives on his face. His cheeks were swollen and his eyes were watering. Gilbert just hadn't had enough had he? He still wanted to make Matthew's life a living hell. Pretending to apologize, it was ridiculous. Did he have a bet that he could get Matthew to forgive him in a week too? 

Matthew popped down some allergy medication, sniffing from the stuffiness. He should've known. 

Matthew slumped on his couch. Even still, he missed having Gilbert around. He missed having someone to get drunk and watch bad movies with. Or make pancakes and chuck batter at each other with. Gilbert used to drag him out to so many things, since the break up, Matthew'd barely left the house. He missed all the attention and being fully honest, he just missed Gilbert himself. 

Matthew sniffled and wiped his eyes, this time not from allergies. 

**  
Gilbert had had it with the stupid getting Matthew back plans that all ended in disaster. He was sick of not being able to see him. He was determined to fix things. 

It was time for attempt number 4. 

Gilbert knocked on Matthew's door. The clouds were dark and it was staring to drizzle a bit. Gilbert felt the raindrops hit his skin as he waited on Matthew's doorstep. Matthew answered the door, Gilbert greeted him with an awkward smile.

"Hey." He waved. Matthew gave him a polite nod.

"Hi." He replied. 

"Do you uh, have a second?" Gilbert asked in a hopeful voice. Matthew looked like he was debating it. He nodded and opened the door for Gilbert to walk in. 

They stood in Matthew's living room. Matthew watched him, waiting for him to talk. His arms were folded yet he was willing to give Gilbert a chance. At the very least, let him explain his actions.

Gilbert looked awkwardly around the room. He turned to face Matthew. "Look I- I'm just gonna be honest with you. No stupid schemes or accidental traumatizing. Sorry about that by the way-" He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. 

"Okay." Matthew replied, bitting his lower lip. 

"You treated me really well. I know I'm not the easiest person to deal with, and well, I'll admit, sometimes I can be kind of a jackass." He said. Matthew nodded. "You deserve a lot better than what I gave you. I'm sorry." 

Matthew nodded. "I appreciate the apology." He said, not looking Gilbert in the eye. He was being polite, but Gilbert could tell he was still pissed. 

"Uh, do you maybe wanna go outside?" He asked abruptly. "For like a walk or whatever?"

"It's raining." Matthew stated. Gilbert shrugged.

"You know, sets the mood for this whole dramatic speech I've got set up." He said. A smile tugged at Matthew lips. He shrugged and nodded.

"I don't see why not." 

The two left the house, walking aimlessly around Matthew's street. The rain had picked up a little, but it wasn't pouring. It made for a nice distraction between awkward pauses of silence. The street lights were on which reflected off the small puddles on the ground. The sky was dark but the clouds were covering the moon and stars. 

"I'm gonna tell you something." Gilbert said. His eyes were staring at the puddles beneath his feet. 

"Okay." Matthew responded. 

Gilbert sighed. He glanced out in front of him as he spoke.

"Maybe you've figured this out in that weird head of yours, but I'm not good with rejection. Even since I was a kid I'm always finding stupid ways to prove myself. I know I don't really talk about myself that often- okay, well, maybe I do but I mean my personal life shit." He said, shaking his head and hands to get himself back on track. "My point is I'm scared and being scared makes me do stupid shit." 

"Okay..." Matthew replied, slightly confused. Gilbert shoved his hands in his pocket. He tried sorting through the maze that was his mind. Just looking for anyway to communicate his feelings. The rain started hitting the ground a little harder. Gilbert's hair started to stick to his face. A drop rolled down the side of his face, almost resembling a tear. 

"Alright, story time. Once upon a time, I liked this girl. Shocking right? Yeah I had feelings. Anyway she ended up marrying one of my best friends. I moved on, went to this other guy, who might I add, is now dating my brother. So I handled these rejections like I handled any problem; Making myself look like a huge dick and developing a superiority complex. I know. My emotions are fucking wonderful." Gilbert's waved his hands in the air for effect. 

"And then you came along. Yep. Francis made a bet and I'm not one to turn down a challenge. When we first met, I thought you were the dorkiest loser I'd ever met." Gilbert said. Matthew frowned.

"Thanks." He said sarcastically. Gilbert's statement however, wasn't far from the truth. 

"That's all you were at first, a bet. That changed pretty quickly though. I started liking you and I starting liking hanging around you. That freaked me out because I wasn't supposed to like you. So I kept pushing it back hoping I'd just get over it. Needless to say that didn't really work out for me. When we got together, I was so scared I was gonna fuck it up and hurt you. I know that I'm not that great of person and probably not that great of a boyfriend-" 

"That's not true." Matthew cut him off. Gilbert bit his lip, darting his eyes away.

"I'd argue that." He mumbled. "Anyway, things were going great until Russia came along. It bothered me because I was scared he was going to hurt you and I was scared that you'd feel he was better for you than me. I know it's stupid when I say it out loud. I acted way out of line. Relationships shouldn't be like that. I'm not in control of you, I don't choose who you can and can't be friends with. Even if I didn't like him, I should have respected that you did. But I was scared, so when I saw him kiss you, well I just sort of lashed out. I wanted to make you feel as bad as I did, so I said all that shit I never wanted you to know." He said in a guilty tone.

Gilbert's face reeked of regret. He stopped on the sidewalk, Matthew stopped along side him. Gilbert glanced down at the ground. Matthew watched him, waiting for him to finish. He looked uncertain. His eyes met Matthew's and glinted with sadness. Matthew's tensions relaxed. Gilbert sighed.

"Look, I know what I did wasn't excusable. You have every right to be upset with me and if I'm honest, I'm probably not worth your time. But, I don't want to lose you. I don't want to give up because I still love you. So...if you're willing to give me another chance...Maybe we could start over?" Gilbert sighed and held out his hand. "Hi, names Gilbert, most of my friends call me Gaybert. I've learned to accept it." 

Matthew stifled a chuckled. "I'm Matthew, I'd say my friends call me a nickname but, you'd need that have friends first for that." He shook his hand, Gilbert laughed.

"Well, I also don't have many friends. Shocking right? You know I just reek with popularity. Since we're both lonely assholes, want to be friends?" He asked with a hopeful smile. 

Matthew didn't have it in his heart to hate Gilbert. He loved him too much for that. As much as he wanted to pout and play the victim, he was an adult, and it was time to act like one. 

"Yeah. I think I'd like that." Matthew nodded. Gilbert grinned. 

"I'd like that too." Gilbert smiled. Matthew sighed and leaned in, wrapping his arms around Gilbert's shoulders, pulling him in for a hug. Gilbert visibly relaxed and he buried his face in his shoulder. "I'm so sorry." 

"I'm sorry too. I should've let you explain yourself. I was being over dramatic." Matthew hummed out. Gilbert was so close he could feel his breath on his ear. He craved holding him like this. He needed this.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. But you're Canadian so you'll probably find something." Gilbert mumbled into his ear. Matthew laughed.

"I missed you." He said.

"I missed you too." Gilbert cupped his cheek, planting a soft, yet lingering kiss. Matthew kissed back. The rain bounced off their heads. Both boys were soaked. They didn't care. They pulled apart. Matthew's eyes darted down awkwardly as he let out a slight laugh. His hair was stuck to his flushed face. He wore an awkwardly happy grin that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get rid of. His violet eyes stared down at Gilbert's shoes.

"We sure are cheesy aren't we?" He asked. Gilbert nodded.

"Yeah. The cheesiest pieces of shit there is." He leaned in a kissed again, closing his eyes and letting his lashes rest against his cheek.

It's was a rainy day, that weird stage between winter and spring. There was still half melted snow on the ground. Most people were inside. These two idiots however cold and uncomfortably wet, were the happiest idiots of them all. Patching things up, understanding each other and finally, standing as equals.


	18. Chapter 18

Six months later 

Gilbert opened his eyes to a head of blonde hair. His face was right against the back of Matthew's head, his arm wrapped around his waist. Well, what would've been his waist had it not protected by twenty layers of blankets. Gilbert chuckled at the sight of Matthew curled up in his blanket cocoon. He planted a soft kiss on the back of his neck, Matthew stirred in his sleep. Gilbert shifted, leaning on his arm to see if Matthew was awake. Matthew eyes cracked open. 

"Morning dork." Gilbert greeted. Matthew hummed in response and closed his eyes. Gilbert flicked his cheek. "Wake up."

Matthew groaned and smacked his hand away, Gilbert laughed. "What do you want?" He mumbled in a tone that was pretty much inaudible. 

Gilbert chuckled, he brushed Matthew messy bangs out of his face. "To annoy you." 

"You're doing a fantastic job." Matthew spurted out sarcastically. Gilbert grinned.

"Thanks. I've been practicing." He replied. Matthew smiled and rolled over, facing Gilbert. Gilbert leaned down and kissed him. 

"Morning Gilbert." Matthew said between a kiss. 

Gilbert pulled away, sitting up and running a hand through his hair. He reached over Matthew and grabbed his glasses from the bedside table. He handed them to him and Matthew sat up, placing them on. 

"We have plans today." He said. Matthew frowned.

"We do?"

"You're birthday is coming up. Isn't it?" Gilbert crawled off the bed, looking for his shirt.

"Yeah." Matthew said, pulling the covers to his bare chest.

"So why don't we go out and do a little pre-birthday celebrating?" He suggested. Matthew chuckled. Gilbert's pre-birthday celebrating consisted of going to the party store and picking out a shit tone of balloons.

"I've never heard of 'pre-birthday celebrating' before." He said. Gilbert grinned.

"It's cause I just made it up. Don't worry it's a great idea. I'm full of great ideas." He boasted. 

"Oh really? Remember that time I came home and you set my kitchen on fire? It was that time you wanted to become a professional in juggling flaming knives." Matthew asked. Gilbert frowned. He'd located his shirt and tossed it on.

"To be fair, I was left unattended." Gilbert shrugged. 

Matthew laughed and kissed him on the cheek. "Let's get breakfast and then do some pre-birthday stuff." 

"Sounds like a plan." 

**  
Everything had gone back to normal after the fight. It was a little awkward first, but things blew over fairly quickly. Ivan gave the two a formal apology. He and Gilbert talked a bit, and were finally able to start seeing eye to eye. 

Gilbert and Matthew strolled through the aisles of the party store. Gilbert had taken it upon himself to put on every stupid mask they passed by. 

Gilbert placed on the gorilla mask and tapped on Matthew's shoulder. Matthew spun around and jumped slightly at the sight of the mask. Gilbert laughed.

"Gilbert put that thing down." He demanded.

"Aw, you're no fun." Gilbert pouted. He spotted a large wizard hat on the shelf near by. 

"I'm plenty fun, I just- Gah!" Gilbert shoved the hat on Matthew's head. The hat was much too large for his head and covered his eyes. 

"There you go. You look great." He said. Matthew chuckled as he adjusted the hat on his head. He spotted a paper beard across the shelf. 

"Wait, hang on." He picked it up and strapped it to his face. "Finishing touch." 

Gilbert laughed. "Beautiful. That beard really brings out your eyes." 

Matthew smiled. "Why thank you. I must say your terrifying gorilla face is quite attractive." 

"Isn't it?" 

A young girl walked down the aisle, holding her dads hand. She spotted Gilbert and pointed, starting to cry. Her dad shot the two a dirty look. Matthew flushed red and ripped off the hat and beard, Gilbert did the same. They smiled awkwardly as the dad rolled his eyes and kept walking with his now crying child. 

"Way to go Gilbert." Matthew said jokingly.

"It's not my fault children cry when the see your face." Gilbert grinned. 

"She was totally pointing at you." Matthew crossed his arms. 

The two walked down the store, picking out streamers and other birthday materials for Matthew's party coming up.

"Are you sure we're not over doing it? I don't know how many people are going to come." Matthew asked as Gilbert grabbed a handful of balloons.

"Of course we're not." He said, holding a package of balloons in his mouth, as his hands were full.

"You think we need that many balloons?" Matthew counted the packages in his hand.

"Yes Matthew. We need two hundred balloons. Balloons are badass." The package fell out of his mouth. Matthew bent over to pick it up. 

"They are?" Matthew questioned with a smile.

"Yes. Don't worry, I don't expect someone as lame as you to know that."

"I'll take your word for it. You're blowing them all up though." He tucked the package under his arm. Gilbert grinned.

"Trust me. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's blowing things." Gilbert wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Matthew rolled his eyes.

"Gilbert shut up."

**  
Matthew sat on Gilbert's shoulders, setting up the streamers from the ceiling. Gilbert kept himself steady, carful not to drop him. He held the roll of tape in his mouth, Matthew reached down and grabbed it.

Streamers and banners covered the walls and ceilings, as well as roughly two hundred balloons. Gilbert helped Matthew down from his shoulders and on to the ground. The two admired their work. 

"Wow. I haven't had a party this decorative until that one year Alfred and I combined ours for convince." Matthew stated.

They had bowls of snacks and a counter full of booze. Gilbert grabbed a chip from the bowl and shoved it in Matthew's mouth. "I say we did a pretty fucking good job." 

Matthew swallowed. "Yeah." He agreed. 

The doorbell rang and the few guests started to arrive. Matthew had invited his family, as well as Carlos, Ivan, Lovino, Antonio, Matthias and Ludwig. It was a small crowd, but to Matthew it was one of his biggest parties yet. He was surprised everyone remembered. However that was because he didn't know Gilbert went behind his back and hounded everyone, saying if they stood him up on his birthday he'd cut their dicks off. It was an effective strategy.

The room filled with people. Alfred ran up to his brother and swung an arm around him.

"Happy birthday dude! Really like what you did with the place, needs more balloons though." He joked. 

"Thanks Al. Also I don't think my house can even fit more balloons." He said. Alfred scoffed.

"Course it can." Alfred lifted a balloon and bounced it against Matthew's head. 

Gilbert stood at the make-shift bar, sipping his beer as he watched the brothers interact. Arthur slinked up beside him. 

"Prussia." He greeted with a nod.

"Eyebrows." Gilbert nodded back. 

Arthur stood beside him, making himself a drink. His eyes kept darting to Gilbert, whose in response, darted back.

"So. I see you two have sorted everything out then." He commented. 

"Yep." Gilbert replied. Arthur nodded.

"Just so you know-" Arthur began, Gilbert cut him off.

"Yeah yeah if I hurt him you'll gouge my eyes out and turn my life into a swarming torment of pain and suffering. Don't worry I already got the death threats." Gilbert said, not even looking at him. 

Arthur nodded. "Glad to hear." 

The party went on. Alfred challenged Matthew to a slightly drunk match of DDR. 

The brother's feet jumped back and forth on the dance mat as they watched their 3D figures dance in screen. Matthew was a little tipsy and wobbling all over the place. Alfred was taking it way too seriously. 

"Kick his ass baby!" Gilbert cheered as he filmed. This would be prefect to make fun of him for later.

The match ended, Alfred had won. Gilbert patted his boyfriends back. Alfred looked at the two intently.

"Hey. Team match. Brothers vs brothers." He said, glancing at Gilbert and nodding at Ludwig behind him.

"I don't dance." Gilbert said. He nodded back at Ludwig. "He doesn't either." 

Alfred smirked. "It's fine. I get it if you're scared."

Gilbert frowned. "You implying something Alfuck?" 

Alfred faked gasped. "I would never." 

Gilbert frowned. "Luddy! Get your ass over here. Let's teach these North Americans how it's done." 

Alfred smirked and Matthew hiccuped.

"Bring it." Alfred replied. 

The brothers went into teams. They'd gotten Arthur to duck tape their legs together and each team took a mat. Gilbert had no idea how Ludwig agreed to play. 

"Alright Matthew. Just like we practiced." He said. Matthew nodded, hiccuping again. 

"We're gonna kick some ass." He said. 

The teams readied themselves. 

"Why am I doing this?" Ludwig questioned.

"Because we can't let Mcasshole and Maple Fuck talk shit and get away with it!" Gilbert stated. Ludwig sighed and shook his head.

Arthur used the remote to control the game. He glanced at the teams. "What song?" 

Alfred and Matthew smirked at each other. "Don't Stop Believing." They said in unison. Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Of course." He muttered as he selected the song. Gilbert and Ludwig glanced at each other, they'd never heard it before. 

The match began and the brothers stumbled to hit the arrows with their legs tapped together. Gilbert and Ludwig's team were in the lead by a few points. Matthew made eye contact with Gilbert and gave him a competitive smirk.

The match continued and as it his the chorus, Alfred and Matthew were singing. Their points went up. Ludwig and Gilbert struggled to catch up, but Ludwig wasn't feeling it like the others were.

Eventually the match ended as Matthew and Alfred racked up the points. They won. The twisted around to high five each other before losing balance and falling to the ground.

**  
Matthew sat on the couch and opened his gifts. Arthur had given him yet another jumper, with an M stitched on the front.

"I made it myself." He said.  
Matthew smiled and nodded. 

"Thanks." He folded it and placed it aside.

Alfred pushed Arthur out of the way and practically hurled his gift at Matthew.

"Bro! Open mine next!" He demanded. Matthew lifted the bag and pulled out a variety of terrible movies. At this point Matthew couldn't tell if Alfred had gifted these to him as a joke or if he genuinely thought the movies were good. He appreciated the thought non the less.

"Thanks Al." He replied. 

Matthew had opened a few more. He smiled and thanked everyone for the gifts. Last was Gilbert, he handed him a small silver box.

"Wow, this looks fancy." Matthew commented. Gilbert smirked.

"I think you'll like it." 

Matthew opened the box, revealing a small Kazoo. Matthew burst out laughing. He recalled their previous conversation. That had felt like so long ago. 

"I promised you I'd get you a kazoo. Now you have to enlighten the hearts of all." Gilbert nodded towards it. Matthew brought it to his lips and played a tune.

"It's great." He said. Gilbert chuckled.

"I'm totally kidding. Here." He handed him another, smaller box. He opened it, revealing a small, silver ring. He lifted it out and reached for Matthew's hand. "This, is what I actually got you." 

Matthew smiled and gave him his hand. "It's really pretty." 

"It's a promise ring." Gilbert slid it on his finger. "It means that, one day I'm going to marry you. I promise. And that ring is to show it. So yeah, now you're pretty much stuck with me. No take backs." 

Matthew smiled. "That's oddly romantic for you." 

Gilbert shrugged. "I have my charm."

Matthew played with the small silver ring around his finger. Gilbert was going to marry him one day. He liked the sound if that. The ring was simple, but beautiful to Matthew. 

"Thank you Gil." Matthew leaned in and hugged his boyfriend. Gilbert smiled, planting a soft kiss on his lips. Gilbert glanced at Francis, who nodded vigorously, flashing him thumbs up. 

"Gross." Alfred crossed his arms. "That was so disgustingly sweet, I'm gonna throw up."

"You better keep that promise." Matthew smiled at him.

"I wouldn't break it for the world." Gilbert replied. Matthew chuckled as Alfred made fake gagging noises from behind him, until Francis smacked him to be quiet. 

The night went on. Matthew had a little too much to drink and was laughing at some story Carlos was telling him that probably wasn't nearly as funny as he made it out to be. Gilbert smiled and watched him. Man he loved that guy. He loved everything about him. The way his ears flushed when he was embarrassed to his awkward stutter. His laugh that was much louder than you'd expect from someone as quiet as him. Matthew was a wonderful listener. Gilbert could talk to him for hours about pretty much anything, he'd never get bored.

Gilbert approached him, he swung an arm around his boyfriends shoulder and listened in on the conversation. Matthew leaned his head against him.

The party cleared out, as it was getting quite late. Arthur insisted on staying the night for reasons unknown, however Francis forcefully removed him from the party. He left sputtering incoherent drunk threats to Gilbert as they left.

Once the last person was gone, Matthew started to clean up. He stacked up a few red solo cups to throw out, before Gilbert came up behind him, wrapping his arms around his waist. Matthew jumped.

"Gil! I thought you went home." Matthew spun around.

"And leave you on your birthday? Come on, you know me better than that." He grinned, his eyes travelled down to Matthew's lips. 

"How thoughtful, you can help me clean up." He joked. He pushed out of Gilbert's arms and headed for the kitchen, almost tripping on a chair on his way. Gilbert laughed and shook his head.

"You're a hopeless dork. You know that?"

"Takes one to know one." Matthew replied as he dumped the cups in the garbage. 

Gilbert helped him by grabbing a few glasses and bringing them to the kitchen. Matthew wrapped up some of the open bags of chips. 

"Did you have a good party?" Gilbert asked. Matthew hummed and nodded.

"The best birthday I've ever had." He smiled, almost dropping the chip bowl. Gilbert sighed and took it from his hands.

"I'm glad. But you know, instead of breaking all the dishes you own, why don't we head upstairs and I'll show you the other part of your birthday present." He set the bowl on the counter stepped in close. Matthew snickered.

"Wow, you're really prepared for this aren't ya Gilly? So smooth." Matthew laughed.

"I'm always smooth, you're just not usually drunk enough to notice." Gilbert replied. 

"Nah I notice. I just like to pretend I don't, makes me feel better." Matthew nodded, referring to his virtually non-existent flirting skills.

"Don't worry, you're learning from the best." Gilbert assured him. Matthew swayed back and forth. He took Gilbert's hands.

"So like, I'm ready for the other part of my birthday present now." Matthew said. Gilbert smirked. 

"Good." Gilbert led him out of the kitchen. "Try not to crash into anything." 

"I make no promises." He said, carefully stepping around the chair this time. 

They made their way up the stairs, Gilbert pushed open Matthew's bedroom door. He flicked on the light. Matthew's face was flushed from Gilbert and from the generous amount of wine Francis had brought over. Gilbert placed a soft kiss on his neck, laughing a bit. 

"Happy Birthday you loser." He said against his skin. Then Gilbert kicked the bedroom door closed with his foot.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter :) sorry it's just pure fluff.

"I'm on the highway to hell!" Gilbert scream-sang as the radio blasted through his car. The windows were open, letting in a fast breeze as the car zipped down the highway. Matthew laughed lightly from the passengers seat, his body shifting around awkwardly. Gilbert had be gracing him with his karaoke skills for the last hour. His sun glasses were resting on his face. His hand was placed lazily on the wheel, the other resting on the door. The wind had blown his already crazy hair into even more of a crazy mess. He glanced at Matthew from the side, shooting him a grin. "Lighten up will you? It'll be fine." 

"I'm just anxious. I haven't hosted a world meeting in so long, what if I screw up?" Matthew asked, brushing a loose strand of hair the wind had released back behind his ear.

"You won't." 

"But what if-" 

"You won't." Gilbert repeated. Matthew looked uncertain. Gilbert sighed. "Look you've been preparing for this basically this entire month. You couldn't fuck this up even if you wanted to. You'll be fine. Everything's going to go great and after the meeting you get to spend the night with the awesome, yours truly." Gilbert placed a hand on his chest. Matthew smiled at him.

"I know. But I'm not very good at being in control of a group of people. They probably won't even listen to me." Matthew huffed out, crossing his arms. Gilbert rolled his eyes.

"For the hundredth time babe, you'll be fine. Besides I've got your back." Gilbert patted his shoulder with one hand, keeping his eyes on the road. 

"Okay. Thanks." Matthew nodded, though his voice still seemed uncertain. No matter how much reassurance he received from Gilbert, he was still going to be anxious.

Gilbert's car pulled up in front of the meeting hall building. Matthew had insisted they arrived hours ahead of time. While Gilbert thought he was being ridiculous, it seemed important to Matthew so he took him a few hours ahead of time to help set up. They headed up the stair case. Both their arms were filled with papers Matthew insisted they needed to bring with them. The meeting room didn't take long to set up. They pushed the tables together and Gilbert swept the floor as Matthew set up his presentation. 

Gilbert sat in a rolling chair, kicking off the wall and pushing himself back across the room.

"Do you think that's enough coffee cream?" Matthew asked as he set up the basket.

"Sure." Gilbert replied, not even looking. He spun around again, swinging his arms up in the air. He turned to Matthew. "Race you down the hall."

"Gilbert we don't have time for that, they're going to be here soon." Matthew said as he placed the sugar packets in the basket. 

"Come on, get that stick out of you ass. Take it easy, just looking at you is making me nervous." 

"I can't. I have to stay focused on this." Gilbert rolled his eyes. He stood off his chair, going behind Matthew and covering his eyes. "What are you-" 

"You need to relax. Here, let me help you." Gilbert kept his eyes covered, leading him to the rolling chair. 

"I don't-" 

"Shh. Just trust me." He said. Matthew reluctantly complied. Gilbert sat him in the chair. "Keep your eyes closed."

"Okay." Matthew nodded. Gilbert removed his hands. 

"Okay now take a deep breath." Gilbert instructed. He slowly turned the chair to face the door, gently pushing it towards it. Matthew inhaled deeply, holding for a moment before letting it out. "Good. Keep doing that." 

He rolled it slightly out of the door. He eyed the distance to the end of the hallway, nodding and smiling to himself.

"Gilbert what are you doing?" Matthew asked hesitantly.

"Don't worry about it. Just keep breathing." He said. Matthew was silent for a moment, before he spoke up again.

"Gilbert are you-" Just as he figured it out, Gilbert smirked. He gripped the top of the office chair, pulling it towards him.

"Fly Birdie." He cheered as he pushed the office chair down the long hallway. Matthew, startled by the sudden movement, opened his eyes and shrieked slightly. Gilbert watched in satisfaction as Matthew flew down the hall. A look of perpetual fear resting on his face. Gilbert ran back into the room, grabbing his own office chair and racing after him. 

"See, don't you feel more relaxed now?" He asked as he zoomed past him. Matthew's fear faded and was replaced with a dorky, competitive smile.

"You're an asshole." He knocked into Gilbert's chair slightly.

"Language young man." He said in a mock offended tone, twirling in his chair.

"It's true though." Matthew stated. Gilbert shrugged.

"I may be an asshole but I'm your asshole. Now let's race." Gilbert said. Matthew and Gilbert lined their chairs at the end of the hall.

"You're on." Matthew nodded at him. Gilbert smirked.

"One...two...three!" 

The boys propelled themselves down the hall, kicking their feet violently as the office chairs rolled down the long corridor. 

"Eat my dust Prussia!" 

"You wish beaver brain!" 

England and France were on their way up the stair case, they heard yelling.

"What's going on up there?" Arthur questioned, Francis shrugged.

Arthur and Francis reached the last step of the staircase, coming face to face with the two over enthusiastic boys racing down the hall in office chairs like their lives depended on it. Arthur and Francis gave each other an equally as confused look. Arthur cleared his throat.

Matthew concluded his cheers of victory when he heard Arthur. He looked mortified. He jumped off his chair, only to loose balance and tumble to the ground. Gilbert laughed as he raced by.

"Ah! Arthur! Francis! Hi, um, how are you?" He asked frantically, rushing to greet them. His ears were red in embarrassment. 

"What are you doing?" Arthur asked.

"We were just um...I uh..." Matthew stuttered out. "Can I take your jackets for you?" He offered with a sheepish smile. Arthur sighed, shaking his head. He took his jacket off and handed it to Matthew, Francis followed his actions.

"Weird child." Arthur muttered out. Francis winked at him as the two stepped into the meeting room.

Matthew waved at them until they were gone. Gilbert was laughing hysterically.

"Why am I like this?" He questioned to himself. 

**

After the incident, the meeting room started to fill up. Matthew stood uncomfortably by the front, greeting people as they walked in. A few people walked right past, not noticing him. One even remarked at how they'd travelled to America, only to realize that wasn't where the meeting was. Francis was up at the front with Matthew, helping him. 

The meeting went surprisingly okay. Only a few fights and everyone got free doughnuts. Gilbert shot Matthew a huge thumbs up from the back of the table, giving Matthew the little reassurance he needed.

After the meeting was over, everyone went their separate ways. Gilbert hung back and waited for Matthew to pack up his things, once he was finished, the two took a short walk around to relax.

"That was...actually kind of ok." Matthew stated as he buried his hands in his sweater pocket. Gilbert chuckled, bumping into him lightly.

"See? What did I tell you?"

"Yeah yeah, you were right, I was wrong." Matthew said with an exasperated breath. "Such a relief that it's over though." 

"Yeah, now you just have to deal with one asshole instead of a room full of them." Gilbert joked, Matthew laughed. 

"Thanks for your help today by the way. I probably wouldn't have had the guts to do it without you." Matthew said. Gilbert shrugged.

"I'm sure you would've been fine. You're a lot braver than you give yourself credit for." Gilbert smiled at him. Matthew blushed.

"Aw. Thanks Gil."

"You're still a loser though." 

"Thanks." Matthew replied again, with a dry yet humorous tone. 

Gilbert laughed, swinging an arm around Matthew's shoulder. "But you're my loser." 

**  
Matthew lay asleep on the bed, his head tucked under layers of blankets. Gilbert laid beside him, arm wrapped around the mountain of comforters. He creaked one eye open, glancing at Matthew sleeping face. As adorable as it was, he didn't have time for that. He was a man on a mission. He slowly snuck out of the bed, carful not to wake him. He slunk out the door.

There was a frantic knocking on Francis' hotel room door.

"Who the bloody hell could that be?" Gilbert heard a tired Arthur ask from behind the hotel room door. 

"A number of people, I'll answer it." Francis replied, he heard footsteps inching towards the door. A half naked Francis a answered the door. He pushed back his hair and greeted his friend. "Bonjour Gilbert, can I help you?" 

"Gilbert? Do you have any idea what time it is? Go away you bloody wank!" Arthur cursed at him from the room. Francis shrugged.

"Ignore him. What do you need?" Francis asked. 

"You. Get some clothes on we need to talk." Gilbert demanded. Francis sighed.

"Can't it wait until morning?"

"It's about Matthew." 

Francis shot his head up. Arthur went quiet from in the room.

"I'll be right there." He closed the door quickly. 

Francis and Gilbert had taken a walk down the stairs to the hotel bar. Francis leaned in.

"Alright. What's the drama?" Francis asked in a hushed voice. 

"I'm gonna propose to Matthew." Gilbert stated. Francis laughed lightly. Smiling as he glanced away. Gilbert's eyebrow shifted.

"Oh wait you're serious?" 

"Yes!" 

Francis covered his mouth, looking like he was trying not to squeal in delight. "C'est Bon! I've been waiting for this moment! I'm so proud!" 

"Relax I'm not proposing to you, no need to be so happy about it." Gilbert muttered, getting slightly embarrassed about all the attention Francis was attracting. 

"Ah, there is all the reason to be happy about it! Though why are you telling me? Do you want my blessing?"

"What? No. I don't give a shit about your blessing I need advice!" Gilbert frowned.

"Advice on what?" Francis asked.

"Like how should I do it? What kind of ring, shit like that." Gilbert clarified. Francis smiled proudly.

"Well you came to the right man, I'm a professional. Don't worry my friend, I have the perfect plan."

**  
Matthew sat up in bed, yawning and stretching. He'd gotten the chance to sleep in, he hadn't done that in a while due to all the work he'd had. He smiled, rubbing lazily at his eyes. He noticed a lack of body heat beside him. Gilbert was gone. He glanced at his phone, answering a few messages.

As if on cue, Gilbert pushed open the door, flowers in hand. He spotted Matthew and awkwardly shoved them behind his back.

"Uh! Matthew! Hey! I didn't know you were up!" He said. Matthew laughed.

"Morning Gilly." He waved, disregarding the flowers he clearly saw. He stood out of bed, getting ready to dress himself. Gilbert looked awkwardly between the flowers and Matthew. He held them out sheepishly.

"Here uh, I guess there's no point hiding these anymore." He handed them to him. Matthew smiled softly.

"Thanks Gil, they're really pretty." Matthew took them, placing them on the table as he dressed. Gilbert walked in the room, sitting on the hotel bed.

"Do you have plans tonight?" He asked. Matthew chuckled.

"Do I ever have plans?" He asked. Gilbert laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Fair point. But you're going out with your brother today aren't you?" He asked. Matthew nodded. He'd just made those plans a few moments ago. How did Gilbert know?

"Eh, yeah I am. I'm free later though." He said.

"Great cause I'm taking you out tonight." Gilbert stated. Matthew gave him a lazy grin.

"First flowers now date night, who are you and what've you done with Gilbert?" He asked. Gilbert laughed.

"Come on I'm plenty romantic. Give me a break." Gilbert crossed his arms. Matthew approached him, planting a kiss on his cheek. 

"Thanks. I'll look forward to it."

"You better." 

Matthew leaned in, kissing him softly. Gilbert cupped the side of his face, moving his mouth along with his. Gilbert's eyes wandered towards the clock. He pulled away. "You'd better get ready and meet up with your brother." He jumped up. Matthew frowned.

"Okay...in a hurry much? Maybe I wanna stay here with you a bit." Matthew smiled. Gilbert bit his lip. He needed Matthew out of the room but how could he do that without seeming suspicious? He laughed sheepishly.

A saviour came to him. There was a sharp knock at the door from none other than Alfred Ex Machina himself. 

"Mattie! Dude!" Alfred called from outside the door. Matthew sighed and gave Gilbert an apologetic smile.

"Looks like he's already here." Gilbert shrugged. Matthew nodded, standing up. He gave Gilbert one last kiss.

"See you tonight."

"Yeah, meet me here at six." Gilbert said. Matthew nodded. 

"See you." He waved before opening the door, getting dragged away by his enthusiastic brother. Gilbert grinned.

Just as planned.

**   
Francis and Gilbert had created an elaborate scheme. They had many allies in on it. First, Alfred would keep Matthew distracted and away from the city by bringing him to an arcade for the day. While Matthew was busy, Gilbert, Francis and Antonio would buy a ring and other requisite engagement materials. After, Gilbert would get ready and meet Matthew at the hotel. They'd go out on a date, Gilbert was thinking carnival but Francis was leaning more towards fancy dinner side, eventually, they decided on a sports bar. After the date Gilbert would take Matthew on a walk. There was a park near by that fit the perfect mood. There, Gilbert would propose to him. 

Meanwhile, Alfred and Matthew were in an intense game of Donkey Kong at the arcade.

"Gilbert's acting weird today." Matthew stated as he watched Alfred play.

"How so?" Alfred asked, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"I don't know, he just seemed, off. Maybe he's sick?" Matthew asked. Alfred tried to cover his grin.

"Maybe." He said as he dodged a barrel. 

"He bought me flowers this morning." Matthew told him. Alfred laughed lightly.

"Oh he must be dying then."

Matthew laughed a bit. The two bought copious amounts of pizza and snacked on it all day. Alfred waited for Gilbert's text. Once he received it, he rushed Matthew out of the arcade. 

"Here take this." He tossed Matthew some cologne as they sat in his truck.

"What? Do I smell?" Matthew questioned. Alfred laughed and shook his head. 

"No. Just trust me." Alfred assured him. Matthew shrugged and sprayed himself lightly. He drove his brother to the hotel, dropping him out front. "Good luck." 

"With what?" Matthew questioned. Alfred shrugged and winked at him as he rolled his window up, his wheels screeching as he pulled away. Matthew shook his head.

**  
Gilbert was waiting in the room for Matthew, pacing back and forth slightly. His head jolted up as the door clicked open, Matthew stepped inside.

"Hey." Gilbert greeted with a short wave. Matthew waved back. 

"You look nice." Matthew complimented. Gilbert glanced down at his outfit. He was wearing black skinny jeans and a grey vest over a white shirt. Francis had chosen the outfit. 

"As always." Gilbert boasted. "You don't look too bad yourself." Gilbert nodded towards him.

Matthew was wearing a button up, red and black plaid shirt with baggy dark blue jeans. Gilbert could smell the slight cologne Alfred had given him in the truck. 

"Ready?" Matthew asked. Gilbert nodded, grabbing his wallet. Matthew reached in the dresser to grab his,  
Gilbert grabbed his wrist.

"Ah ah ah." He took the wallet from his hands. "You won't be needing that, tonight's on me." 

Matthew gave a strange look. "You don't have to that..." 

"Nope. Shut up. I insist. After you worked so hard to host the meeting you deserve it." He said. Matthew smiled fondly.

"Gil..."

"I know, I'm a saint. Now let's go." He led Matthew out the door. Matthew smiled and complied.

Gilbert tucked the box in his vest pocket down and out of sight. 

**   
The two had gone to a slightly nicer sports bar. The room was dimly lit and there was music that filled the background. Gilbert chuckled, sipping his beer.

"So then Alfred told me I could parachute down the stairs. We grabbed a pillow case and since I was the lightest I jumped first. It went just about as well as you'd expect. I smashed my head against the bottom step and that's how I got this mark." Matthew explained as he pointed at the light indent above his right eye.

"Even as a kid you were a total spaz, why am I not surprised?" Gilbert laughed lightly.

"Al talked me into it." Matthew defended. He took another bit of his macaroni. "Wow this is good!" 

"Let me try." Gilbert demanded. Matthew lifted his fork and held it to Gilbert, who took a bit. He nodded in approval. "Not bad." 

"We need to get the biggest cake there is." Matthew stated as his eyes travelled over to the desert menu. "I'm already full but we have to do it." 

"It's a sacrifice that has to be made." Gilbert agreed taking the menu. "Holy shit that things huge!" 

Gilbert glanced at the picture, it was almost the size of someone's head. It was much larger than he anticipated.

"Gilbert we must." Matthew insisted. 

Gilbert couldn't say no to him. Surely enough, they ordered a slice of cake that was big enough to feed an army. Gilbert watched in amazement as Matthew went to town.

"I don't know if I should be impressed or concerned..." Gilbert stated, fork in hand and mouth slightly gapped.

"Both." Matthew stated. Gilbert chuckled. "You'll have to call a forklift when I'm done." 

Gilbert laughed. He took a bite of the cake. It was creamy chocolate. The spongy bread melted in his tongue. He glanced up at Matthew across the table, who wore brown frosting all over his face. 

"You've got icing on your face you dork." Gilbert pointed out. Matthew wiped at his chin. 

"Gone?" 

"Not even close." Gilbert shook his head, he leaned across the table and wiped it off with his thumb. "There, better." 

Matthew blushed slightly. "Thanks."

Arthur and Francis sat a few tables away from them, burring their faces in their menus.

"Did you see that? He touched his face!" Arthur whisper yelled. Francis rolled his eyes.

"Keep your voice down. And yes I saw, that is what couples do. In fact he probably would've licked it off if they weren't in public." Francis commented. 

"That's a mental image I didn't need to have..." Arthur muttered. Gilbert spotted them staring across the restaurant. He glanced at Matthew, who was preoccupied eating cake. He quickly waved them off. The pair shoved their noses back into their menus. 

The two finished their cake. Gilbert paid. He glanced back at Francis, who gave a nod. It was time. He wrapped an arm around Matthew's shoulder as they left the restaurant.

"Hey, wanna take a walk?" Gilbert asked.

"Sure." Matthew responded. He was buzzed and happy off sugar. He leaned against Gil. "That was fun."

"I'm glad, you've seemed really stressed lately. You need a break. Seriously just being around you was making me second hand stressed." Gilbert joked as the two made their way down the sidewalk. It was dark outside but the streets were well lit. 

"Well I appreciate you taking me out and buying me cake five times the size of my head." He rested his head against Gilbert's shoulder. 

"You are a champion. Even with my help I have know idea how you finished that." Gilbert let out with a laugh.

"Years of practice." 

The two stopped at a small park. It was a very decorative park, more so a garden. Flowers and lights surrounded the pathways to some of the benches. Gilbert led them down a small path to a bench. He took a seat, patting the bench beside him. Matthew sat. 

Gilbert glanced up at the sky. "Stars are really bright tonight." He stated. Matthew nodded.

"Yeah they are." 

There was a stretch of silence between the two. Gilbert sighed.

"Hey, can I be cheesy for a moment?" He asked.

"You're always cheesy." Matthew replied. 

"That's totally not true. Regardless, I'm glad you're here with me." He said in a softer tone. Matthew turned to him.

"Aw, that's sweet."

"I mean it. It's shitty being alone all the time. I don't think I've ever really said it before but, I really like having you around." He said. Matthew twiddled his thumbs.

"I like having you around too. You're good company, and you get me out of my shell. It's easier to do things when you're around." Matthew stated. Gilbert shifted to face him on the bench. 

"As much as I make fun of you, I really like you." He said. Matthew's face flushed slightly as he gave him a warm smile. Gilbert flashed a grin back.

"Thanks Gilly." Matthew reached his hand down, intertwining it with Gilbert's. Gilbert's heart raced slightly, though he tried to hide it. There was a faint blush on his face. The two sat like that for a moment before Gilbert spoke up.

"Can I say something?" He asked. 

"Shoot." Matthew replied. 

"You're pretty, like really fucking pretty. You have these soft eyes and this cute little nose and I just want to hug you every time I see you." Gilbert exclaimed. Matthew was taken aback. "And every time you nervously push up your glasses it kills me a little more inside." 

Matthew snickered. "Sorry." He joked.

"My point is, it's little shit like this that I've grown to really like about you. You don't notice but that freckle on your cheek is the cutest shit I have ever seen."

Matthew brought his hand to his face, feeling his cheek. Gilbert smiled at him.

"God, I remember being so full of myself. Not like I'm not still, but I remember the first day I met you I just had this mindset that there was no way you'd reject me. I didn't even realize how fucking lucky I was to get the chance to scoop you up before someone else did." He stated. He brushed a choppy bang away from his face. 

"Gil...you're not the only one who's lucky. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I've never been this happy." Matthew sat as he bounced his legs. His ears were red as he glanced down at their hands. 

Gilbert gulped. Matthew looked so pretty. The lights from the lamps above them were reflecting off his golden hair.  
His face was nervously darting towards the ground as he clutched Gilbert's hand, keeping it warm. 

"I love you Matthew. I can't think of any other way I'd want to spend the rest of my life." He said. His eyes darted from in front of them to Matthew. He slowly pulled his hand away. "It's a big step, I know but I think we're ready for it." 

Gilbert buried his hand in his vest pocket. Matthew's heart accelerated. "Gil, what're you doing?" He asked. 

Gilbert held the box in his hand, licking his lips slightly as he pulled it out. Matthew knew right away, he gasped lightly. 

"I know it's not an easy thing to do, because I'm not an easy person." He opened the box, pulling out the silver and red ring, holding it his hand. "But you've been willing to deal with me this far, why not go a little farther?" 

Matthew was speechless. This wasn't what he was expecting. His eyes widened as they darted from the ring back to Gilbert over and over again. There was nothing either of them could say to describe what they were feeling. 

"I-" Matthew stuttered, Gilbert continued.

"So if you're willing to put up with me for the rest of your life, I promise I'll be the best damn husband you could ever dream of. Matthew, will you marry me?" 

Gilbert held the ring up to Matthew. He was so afraid of rejection, but he knew Matthew wouldn't. They loved each other too much and he knew it. Matthew swallowed, looking like he was holding back tears. He shakily raised his hand out. His sniffled, nodding.

"Yeah- yeah I want to marry you." He nodded over and over again. Gilbert slipped the ring on his finger.

"No take backs." He joked, glancing up at Matthew's watering eyes. Gilbert almost wanted to cry himself. Matthew swallowed, he lunged forward and latched on to Gilbert's shoulders. "Woah!"

"Yes! Yes! I want to marry you!" He squealed. Gilbert laughed with genuine happiness. Matthew clutched to him like his life depended on it. 

He let go, slowly pulling away. Gilbert smiled at him before leaning in, grabbing his chin and planting soft lips against his own. It was slow and beautiful. Everything around them was perfect. Gilbert's hand was damp from Matthew's tears. He felt his own tears slip out as he sniffled through the kiss. He pulled away, laughing and rubbing his eyes.

"See? Your crying is contagious." He laughed. Matthew let out a hopeless sigh of happiness.

"I can't believe it. I love you so much!" He exclaimed, latching his hands against his. 

It started out as a funny bet. Gilbert had no idea what he was signing up for when he made his way over to that awkward blonde sitting in the corner by himself. Matthew tried to block himself off at first. To think he used to ignore this guys calls and now he's engaged to him, clutching his hands and crying. It was stupid how perfectly it worked out, but maybe stupid's not always a bad thing.

"I love you too Mattie." Gilbert cupped the sides of his face. He brushed his hair back. 

Francis would spend the rest of his life with a proud grin. It worked. He was right all along. Those dorks needed each other more than either ever cared to imagine. Gilbert brought Matthew out, Matthew sheltered Gilbert in. They were like fire and ice. They found middle ground and were able to balance each other out. 

"Thank you Gilbert, for everything." 

They found something. 

Whatever it was, it was definitely worth it. 

 

END.


End file.
